Shared Strength
by KnightEstoc
Summary: They say a true friend is someone you can rely on when everything seems hopeless, and for Shino, that person was Kazuto Kirigaya, her best - and only - friend. But Shino didn't want to rely on Kazuto as much as she did, so when beta testing opened for a new game called Sword Art Online, she submitted an application...
1. New Experiences

**A pre-emptive warning: Spoilers about SAO Season 2 / Volume 5 pretty damn quick. If you haven't seen or read them, stop reading now unless you want to be spoiled.**

**This is your last chance.**

**Chapter 1: New Experiences**

* * *

><p><strong>March 10th, 2022<strong>

_Maybe this time, things can be different._

That was the main thought running through the mind of Shino Asada as she stood breathlessly in front of the entrance to her new middle school. To her, it seemed majestic, all bright and new; what was more, it represented the opportunity to start over without anyone knowing who she was or what had happened to her. Shino bit her lip. _What if things go poorly,_ she worried. _What if they find out what happened?_ Then the next second, she shook her head and made a silent resolution. _No, things will be different this time. I'll be strong._

She entered the school carrying her bag at her side in one hand and looking at a scrap of paper in the other. The beginning of the school year, the entrance ceremony, had gone well enough, she thought; she had stayed mostly anonymous behind the glasses that she always wore and left as soon as the ceremony was finished, so she didn't have any friends. Her class was 2-C, and Shino made her way up the stairs cautiously, still not used to the idea of being unknown. In her previous school... _No,_ Shino thought, and shook her head. _I'm not going to dwell on that any more._ She made her way to the room marked 2-C and gingerly slid the door open, trying to attract as little attention as possible.

Shino sighed in relief silently when nobody turned around and pointed at her; she looked around and took her seat in the desk with her name on it, putting her bag away and sitting silently. The glass beside her caught her attention and she turned to see her own reflection staring back at her. Shino knew that she wasn't very pretty, and that her glasses didn't do much to help her appearance. But, she wore those glasses for a reason – she didn't need them, since her vision was actually twice as good as regular people – and they made her feel safe. Shino wore her hair shorter than most other girls her age, with the exception of some hair that framed the side of her face; she tied that hair back with two ribbons so that they stayed together. _And there's a reason my hair's short, isn't there?_ she asked her reflection. Her reflection didn't reply to the question, just watching her as if asking 'Why are you so weak? Why do you let them do things like that to you?' _It's not my fault,_ Shino wanted to wail.

The teacher entered the room soon enough, and introductions started quickly after that; when it came to her turn, Shino stood up. "Hello," she said. "My name is Shino Asada, and I hope to have a nice year with all of you." The gazes of everyone made her want to sit back down, to hide and go invisible, but she soldiered through the discomfort. "This is my first year at this school, but I hope I'll make some friends." After that, she sat down and hid her face, staring out into the hall. Introductions continued on, but Shino only paid a slight bit of attention to the names of the others; most of her attention was concentrated on what she had said. _I hope I didn't make a fool of myself,_ she fretted.

* * *

><p>Several weeks later, the bell rang to signify the end of classes; unlike the rest of students, who streamed into the halls to talk to their friends and go downtown or go home and study or whatever they did with their lives, Shino sat in class. She remained there in her seat until there wasn't anyone else in sight; only then did she stand up and make her way out of class. It was better that way, she knew, but it did mean she didn't have to be stared at. <em>Besides,<em> she thought bitterly, _it's not like I have anybody to go see or anything to do._ She slid the door open and slunk out, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.

The school year hadn't been very kind to Shino so far.

Shino made her way down to the entrance of school, trying her best to stay inconspicuous; for a brief second, she hoped she would be able to make it out without being caught. "Asada~" a voice rang out, and Shino froze. Her fragile hopes were dashed when that voice broke the silence. Shino slowly turned to see three female students dressed in the same uniform that she herself wore; the one that had spoken was watching her with a smile on her face. When Shino didn't reply, remaining silent, one of them made a jerking motion with her chin. "Come over here." It was the one that had spoken.

"...What?" Her voice was sullen.

Another of the girls walked over and grabbed Shino's right wrist. "Whatever, just come." With a tug, Shino was pulled over before she could fight back. Stumbling slightly, she was shoved in the direction of the girl that hadn't said anything yet.

She was the leader of the trio, and her name was Endou; her pointed chin somehow gave Shino the impression of a predatory insect. "Hi, Shino," Endou purred.

Shino didn't know what she had done wrong, but at some point during the first month of school, she had offended Endou and her two friends somehow. Endou responded by looking up everything she could find about the poor girl; unsurprisingly, that led her straight to Shino's past – why she changed schools, why she wore those glasses, and why Shino had been bullied. Naturally, Endou spread the information all over the school, and everything went back to the way they had been in the first school – nobody would talk to Shino, and even the teachers would try to avoid meeting her gaze. Sadly, Shino was used to being treated like that, so she never complained; she would never burden her mother with her own issues.

When Shino didn't respond to her 'greeting', Endou's eyes narrowed. "Is that any way to greet one of your friends?" she said.

Shino knew that what she was about to do was dangerous, but she had told herself that she was going to be strong the next time Endou tried to torment her; she was going to stand up to her enemies. "You..." Shino took a deep breath. "You're not my friends. You're nothing but bullies."

Wrong move. Shino knew that the second she opened her mouth; Endou's face grew dark at the girl's words. "We're not your friends?" Endou snarled. "How mean to say that!" The two girls that made up the rest of her group agreed with Endou mindlessly, as they usually did, and Shino's heart sank. "I think you need to learn a lesson in politeness."

Endou slowly raised her right fist and extended two fingers, her thumb and her index finger. She made a small, silly caricature of a gun; it was just a finger gun that children used to play cops and robbers. Nothing to worry about.

And yet with only that, Shino's whole body froze and started shaking. She started losing strength in both of her legs. Balance seemed like a long-lost dream, and the surroundings started to lose color, becoming a constant grey smear in the background of that terrible gun that Shino couldn't tear her gaze from. Her heartbeat sped up, the pounding throbbing through her whole body. A high pitch whined in her ears, rising in pitch as every terrible second passed.

"Bang!" Endou suddenly called out. Almost simultaneously, Shino let out a blood-curdling scream. She couldn't stop the trembling coming from her body or do anything but sink slowly to the ground, her eyes never leaving that finger gun that seemed to be giving off a smell of gunpowder. The heavy, wet feel of iron in her hands came back to Shino, feeling exactly the way it when she... when she...

"What are you doing?" It was a boy's voice, confident and smooth as silk.

Endou froze, her hand retreating from Shino's face and returning to her side. "Nothing, Kazuto," she said innocently. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing? Really?" the voice – Kazuto – said. "Because it seems like you're bullying this girl." There was the sound of footsteps and someone's hand touched Shino, rubbing her back comfortingly. Shino still couldn't move, couldn't see anything except the face of that man.

"That girl, she's..." Endou said. "She's a murderer! She deserves this!" Shino knew then that this savior would turn on her, just like the rest, and torment her as well.

She whimpered slightly at the thought and the hand froze for a split second before continuing to rub her back. "A murderer?" Kazuto sounded more confused than scared or mean. Shino's heart skipped a few beats – a good thing, since it needed to slow down – at the sound; did that mean that he didn't care? "This girl's a murderer?" The hand didn't slow down.

"She is!" This time, Endou sounded triumphant. "She...she..." Her voice lowered. "She shot a guy."

Shino whimpered again; now that he knew what happened, this Kazuto would leave her. But she still couldn't say anything in her defense, since her tongue refused to move. The image of the man's face was slowly receding, and she was coming out of her panic attack; at the same time, the warmth of the hand on her back was making her feel safe.

"If she's a murderer," Kazuto said slowly, "why hasn't she killed you yet?" Endou didn't have anything to say to that bizarre question, and Shino had no idea what he was saying. "You are going to stay away from her," Kazuto said, and this time his voice was different – like the silk from before had fallen away, revealing the bared steel.

"Why should we do that?" Endou demanded.

The hand on her back moved to squeeze her shoulder gently. "Because she's my friend," Kazuto said.

"Your-"

"Go," Kazuto said, and his voice left no room for opposition. "Now." The sound of feet running away told Shino that his orders had been obeyed. She was still weak, though, and the hand on her back kept rubbing, that feeling of security remaining while the warmth of his hand on her back filled her body, driving away the chills and shivering. After a time, Shino finally lifted her head and opened her eyes, not even bothering to wipe away the tears that spilled out when she screamed, to look at her savior. A young, slightly effeminate boy was crouching beside her, smiling gently and rubbing her back. "Are you all right?"

"Y-yes..." Shino stammered. She was scared of men, but for some reason Kazuto wasn't triggering that reaction. _Maybe it's because he's so pretty,_ she thought, and giggled. _Just like a girl. _She realized her thoughts were still hysterical, but there wasn't much she could do about that until she calmed down naturally.

At the sound, Kazuto's smile widened. "Well, you're giggling, so that's good." He sat back and sat down on the ground beside her.

"W...w...why?" Shino finally managed to stammer out. She didn't want the boy to think she was ungrateful, but she couldn't understand why he would come save her – or remain by her side after hearing what she did.

"Why what?" Kazuto asked. "Why did I have breakfast? I was hungry." Shino couldn't help but giggle at the absurd question, but she shook her head. Kazuto nodded, understanding what she couldn't say. "Why did I save you?" Shino nodded hesitantly. She wanted to know the answer, but she was scared at the same time. Kazuto smiled at her reassuringly. "Well, I was about to leave when I heard the scream. So I came to see what was happening, and when I saw what was going on, I, well..." He looked away and scratched at his cheek, embarrassed. "I couldn't let them make such a cute girl cry, could I?" Shino stared at him for a second, confused; then, what he said finally registered and she flushed bright red. It felt like her face was burning up. Kazuto noticed the reaction and bit his lip. "There was something else, too..." Shino didn't meet his eyes; she was too embarrassed to do anything but sit there and play with her hands. "You remind me of my little sister."

"Your little sister...?" Shino murmured. She was trying her best to stop blushing from when he called her cute. _He thinks I'm cute?_ she kept thinking, and the heat was radiating from her skin so much that she was surprised Kazuto hadn't said anything yet. "Th-thank you, er..." She didn't want to come off as some kind of stalker that already knew his name.

"Kazuto Kirigaya," he told her. "Call me Kazuto."

Shino smiled up at her savior. "Thank you, Kazuto." He stood up and helped her to her feet; as soon as she realized he was holding her hand, she pulled back, bright red again. "Um, Kazuto..."

The boy looked at her. "What is it, Shino?" At her startled look, he grinned reluctantly. "I've heard the rumors."

"And you don't care?" she couldn't stop herself from asking. _Idiot!_ she berated herself. _He said he didn't care earlier._

Kazuto just shook his head. "Hey, Shino?" She looked at him curiously; his voice was almost hesitant. "I hope I didn't overstep my boundaries earlier, when I said you were my friend. If I offended you..."

"No!" Shino exclaimed immediately, before realizing that her haste probably sounded weird. "No," she repeated. "I don't mind at all. Actually..." she looked away shyly. "I'd like it if you were my friend." _He'd be my first friend at this school,_ she thought.

* * *

><p>After that, school became – while not fun, since most of the student body still shunned her – tolerable for Shino, thanks to Kazuto. The day after he saved her, he was waiting outside her classroom when school let out; he walked her home, and none of the bullies tried anything while he was there. The next day, he was waiting, and the next, and the next... Naturally, rumors started; anything strange like that would catch the attention of kids. "Have you heard?" one girl had whispered as Shino passed. "The girl that shot someone is going out with Kazuto!" That was one of the nicer rumors; although Shino was deathly embarrassed and couldn't look Kazuto in the eye that day, it was still better than some of the other rumors. Other rumors flying around the school reported that she was blackmailing Kazuto, or that she had threatened his life and he was serving her out of fear. Those rumors, when they eventually got around to Shino, depressed her greatly. But fortunately, Kazuto never listened to any of the rumors and cheered her up when the whispering got to the poor girl.<p>

A week or two after Kazuto started walking her home, giving Shino his implicit protection, a group of girls surrounded Shino's desk during lunch. "You should stop being near Kazuto," one of them warned her. "He's too good for you." Shino's face fell. _They__ aren't wrong,_ she thought sadly. "He's one of the cutest guys at the school, and he's hanging out with you." The girl leaned in close. "Bang," she whispered. Shino froze, the blood draining from her face, and the girl straightened up again. With a satisfied smirk, the group of girls left Shino shaking in her desk as the memories flooded over her again.

Later that day, when Kazuto was walking her home, he must have noticed something off, because he examined her closely before saying, "Shino?"

Shino looked over at him. "What?"

"Is something wrong?" Shino just looked away quietly, not saying a word, and Kazuto sighed. "We both know I'm going to get to the bottom of this whether you tell me or not, so just save me the trouble, okay?"

"Some girls warned me to stay away from you." Shino's voice was quiet. "They triggered me again."

"I see." Shino looked over at the calm, quiet voice to see a brief moment of absolute fury pass over Kazuto's face. "Well, that won't be happening again." _Is he going to stay away from me? _Shino wondered. _I've been taking up a lot of his time lately, but he hasn't complained... _Imagine the poor girl's surprise when Kazuto showed up at her classroom the next day, sitting down calmly and starting to eat his lunch. "Aren't you hungry?" he asked Shino when she was staring at him.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed.

He blinked. "Eating lunch," he said blandly. "You should probably do the same. You tend to get grouchy when you don't eat."

"I don't get -" Shino started, and then shook her head. "Never mind that, why are you in my classroom?"

Kazuto grinned slightly. "I'm making a point." He shot a glare over to the same group of girls that had harassed Shino the day before; they looked away, not wanting to meet his gaze. "They shouldn't bother you after this." He gave Shino a stern glare that was softened by the concern in his eyes. "But if they do, you're going to tell me right away, aren't you?"

Shino couldn't stop the smile that came to her face after that. "Yes, Kazuto. Whatever you say."

The students might have been getting nastier and nastier, but Shino found she didn't mind so much. Spending time with Kazuto made her happy, and she felt safe when she was around him. She started opening up to him; one day, she gathered up her courage right after they arrived at her apartment. "Kazuto?" she asked, and the boy turned around curiously. "Would you..." She swallowed; her throat was curiously dry. "Would you like to come in?"

Kazuto blinked and walked over. "Wouldn't your parents mind?"

Shino looked away. "I live alone." It got lonely at times, which was why she always looked forward to seeing Kazuto. There just wasn't anything to do where she lived; she didn't have a TV, and the only other things she could do in the small apartment were homework, studying, and cooking. Needless to say, she didn't really like talking about it much.

"I'd love to come in," Kazuto said, surprising the shy girl. "I've been curious about where you live." With his agreement, Shino, who was already starting to regret the offer - she hadn't had a chance to clean up, and her breakfast dishes were still soaking - couldn't do anything but open the door and show Kazuto around. There wasn't much to show off, since Shino only had a small allowance to pay for her apartment; a single bed and dresser, a desk for her homework, a small table for breakfast, things like that. The kitchen was in a side room where she could cook, and that was where Shino went to make some tea while Kazuto wandered around the small living quarters. She returned and handed him his cup of tea before sitting down on the bed, and he accepted it with a quiet murmur of thanks. "It's nice," he said finally, sitting down on the bed a careful distance away. Shino just sipped at her tea and didn't reply right away. "If it's not prying, why do you live alone?" Kazuto asked gently.

Shino stared at the surface of her drink for a long time. _Should I tell him?_ Finally, she sighed. "My mother is... fragile," she said finally. "When I was two, my family got into a car accident." The memories were so old that they didn't affect her too much, but she still felt the pain. "I watched while my father bled to death." She didn't look at Kazuto while she spoke. "My mother never recovered fully, so I had to protect her." Her mouth twisted into a grimace. "Then, when I was eleven..." She bit her lip and shook her head, looking away.

"What happened?" Kazuto asked gently.

Shino shook her head again. "It's nothing."

"Alright," he said, not pressing the issue further - something Shino was quietly glad about. Instead, he leaned over and gave her a careful hug; when she tensed slightly after a few seconds, Kazuto drew away slightly, so as to not scare her. "Feel better?" he asked quietly. Shino didn't trust her voice to answer the question, so she just nodded yes to the question. "It helps to tell people your secrets," he said then. "When you hold them in, it feels like they're suffocating and that the burden is too much to bear."

"You say that like you have your own secrets," she said, and her voice was quiet and hoarse from the memories that had welled up inside her.

Kazuto grinned, but it wasn't the happy grin Shino was used to. This was a twisted grimace, a parody of a smile. "We all do, don't we?" And that was the end of the topic for the time being.

Shino got to know Kazuto as well during those two months that they were growing closer; because she was shy, she didn't talk much during lunch. Kazuto did the talking for both of them, though, because he had so much to tell her. Whenever she could manage it, however, she would try to figure out just what kind of secret he was keeping; talking about part of her past had made her feel slightly better, and she wanted Kazuto to feel better, since whatever he was holding back was obviously hurting him. It was when he was talking about a shopping trip his sister had dragged him along that he stumbled and gave it away. "...and my co- sister decided that I needed some new clothes too," Kazuto was saying with a pout. "What's wrong with my wardrobe, anyway?"

Shino grinned slightly; the two of them had gone out occasionally on the weekends, and she knew that his 'wardrobe' consisted mostly of dark blue and black shirts. But then she frowned. _Did he start to say something before he switched to sister? _"Kazuto, what were you going to say before you called Suguha your sister?" she asked. When he winced slightly, she knew she was on the right track.

"Can we just ignore that slip of the tongue?"

Shino shook her head. "We both know I'm going to get to the bottom of this whether you tell me or not, so just save me the trouble, okay?" _That's what you said to me a while back, so hah!_ It felt good for her to use his own words against him.

Kazuto worried at the choices in front of him before finally sighing. "Okay, fine. I'll tell you everything on the way home." Shino nodded, satisfied with that, and went back to her meal. She was anticipating the conversation for the rest of the day, barely able to focus on the material being covered in class. _If I miss anything, I'll ask Kazuto,_ she decided, _since his grades are better than mine._ Eventually, the final bell rang and she exited the classroom to find Kazuto waiting for her, as usual. They walked home in silence for a while before Kazuto finally turned to Shino. "My parents died when I was a year old," he said bluntly and quickly, as if saying it faster would make it hurt less. "I was adopted by my aunt and raised like her own son." He shrugged. "She never told me about it, but I managed to find my birth certificate on the Net." _Figures,_ Shino thought. _He's always going on about those games of his. I wonder what they're like?_ "When I asked her about it, she told me everything." He laughed bitterly. "Including the fact that my sister was actually my cousin." He shook his head. "Once I knew that, I just started... growing apart from them."

Shino frowned. "You still love them, don't you?"

"Of course," was his instant reply. "Suguha's a great kendo practitioner. She competes in tournaments, and I'm pretty sure she got second in one of them." Shino looked at him and saw that he was smiling honestly. "But the gap between us is so big now."

"Maybe you should try talking to her?" Shino offered hesitantly.

But Kazuto shook his head. "This isn't something that can be fixed by talking about it. I feel guilty, but I've drifted away from her so far that I can't solve this by talking to her." He sighed and from his face Shino could guess that he didn't really want to talk about it again.

And Shino eventually learned – rather in depth and somewhat against her will – where, exactly, he had drifted to, in order to escape from his family: the virtual world, the world of games. Kazuto would always have a sparkle in his eyes when he talked about his games, a kind of energy that he didn't have when he talked about other subjects. _He's always so alive when he talks about his games,_ Shino thought one day while Kazuto was talking about this new technology called the NerveGear. _It's kinda adorable._ She flushed, suddenly. What was she thinking?

Kazuto stopped talking when he noticed her red face. "Is everything all right, Shino?" he asked her.

"I'm fine, Kazuto," she reassured him. _He's always worried about me,_ Shino realized. _I want to become someone that he doesn't have to worry about._

That night, she went to her computer and looked up the NerveGear. The creator of the technology, it turned out, was also developing the first game for it; the first VRMMORPG, called Sword Art Online. There was a form to sign up for the beta testing of the game that would start in August, and Shino filled out the form without even thinking about what she was doing. She wanted to experience Kazuto's world, for once, and this seemed like the best way. Since it was new technology, she'd be able to learn all about Kazuto's world from the beginning.

The week before the beta started, Kazuto was uncharacteristically quiet. "Shino," he started.

"Yes?" Shino was suddenly worried. Had she done something wrong? She couldn't stand losing her only friend.

He fidgeted slightly. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to be busy during August, so we might not be able to hang out as much..."

Shino almost collapsed as relief flooded through her. "Oh, is that it?" She giggled. "I thought you'd gotten tired of having to take care of me." _This way,_ she thought, _I'm not the one saying we can't hang out. _A week after she had filled out the form and submitted her application, she received an email informing her she had been chosen as one of the lucky thousand beta testers of the game. She briefly wondered about what Kazuto could be doing that would take up so much of the last month of summer vacation, but she didn't think too much about it; instead, she was just glad she didn't have to bring up the subject herself. _Convenient timing, though. Must have to do something with his family._

Kazuto shook his head immediately. "I'll never get tired of that," he declared. Catching her hand, he stared into her eyes. "I care about you, Shino, and I want you to be happy. That means I'll stay with you as long as you need me."

_He...I...wha..._ Shino couldn't think anything coherent. His hands were warm around hers, and the heat was quickly rising to her face. _What's wrong with me?_ "I..."

"Oh!" Kazuto suddenly realized that she was red and flushed, and dropped her hand. "I'm sorry, I forgot you're slightly afraid of men..."

"N-No, no," she stammered. "It's okay." A mischievous gleam flashed in her eyes for a split second. "You don't trigger that at all because you look like a girl."

"Hey!"

Shino pretended to pout. "To tell the truth, I'm jealous of your looks. You're just so pretty!" She leaned forward to stare closely at Kazuto. "Hmm, maybe if we put some lip gloss on you... I think I have some with me..." Kazuto backed away quickly, fearing for his masculinity, and Shino giggled. They were close friends, and she hoped they always would be.

* * *

><p><strong>August 1st, 2022<strong>

The next week, a box arrived at Shino's front door; she immediately brought it upstairs and opened it. Just as she had expected, it was the NerveGear and her copy of the beta version of Sword Art Online. She followed the included instructions, plugging in the NerveGear and going through the requested calibrations. She felt a little weird, patting herself all over while alone in her room, but she got through it by telling itself that the game was waiting for her.

After the calibrations were complete, she put the game cartridge in the NerveGear and, lying on the bed, put on the helmet. "Link start!"

When she could finally see again, she was in a character creation screen. There were so many sliders and options, she didn't even know where to start; she looked around to see something almost like a mirror beside her. However, when she waved, the image didn't do the save, and Shino realized that what she had taken for a mirror image was actually a perfect model of what she really looked like. _Not creepy at all,_ Shino thought. Testing out an option at random, a small window appeared with a color wheel in the center, a cursor hovering over a black color; she moved the cursor and her avatar's hair color changed. After playing with the various sliders and options, Shino's avatar had turquoise hair and blue eyes, and although she kept her basic hairstyle she changed the ribbons out for metal clips; she thought her face was slightly cuter, too. The height was the same, though; there was a 'try it!' button that let her walk around with the current settings, and when Shino tried it with a taller height, she almost fell over after her first step.

Finally, all that was left was choosing her name. _A different name, a different person__,_ Shino thought, and typed in 'Sinon'. _In here, Sinon can be strong enough for Kazuto._

When she appeared in the game proper, she gasped in awe. The surroundings seemed so real that she could swear she was actually standing in a large clearing, staring up at a clear blue sky. She reached up, feeling her virtual body move just like her real one. She looked at the hand in front of her; it looked like a real hand, and when she pinched her cheek she felt the sensation of something touching her cheek. _Amazing. It's... real._

"Amazing, isn't it?" A male voice said behind her, and Sinon jumped; she whirled to find a handsome man with a dark blue shirt and jet-black hair standing a few feet away. "I've always thought games like this were just a fantasy, but..." He waved a hand, and Sinon noticed a longsword strapped to his back when he turned slightly. "Here we are."

Sinon had only been startled for a few moments, but she was on her guard through long experience. "...And you are?"

She was brusque, but the man seemed to accept it. "My name is Kirito, icy lady. May I have your name?"

Sinon's eyes narrowed. _Is he flirting with me?_ "Sinon."

Kirito's eyes crinkled in amusement as he grinned. "You don't talk much, do you?"

"No."

Kirito nodded, still smiling, and waved in a direction to Sinon's left. "The exit to the city is that way, Sinon. Would you like to train together for a while?" Sinon just raised an eyebrow, and Kirito continued talking. "Normally, I'm a lone wolf in multiplayer games, and I'm assuming by your...er...reticence, you're the same. However, since we don't have much practice in this game, it might be safer to team up for a while." Kirito gave Sinon a once-over, and nodded slowly. "You've chosen a dagger?" He shrugged his shoulder, rattling the scabbard on his back. "I'm using a longsword, so we might work well together. What do you say?"

Sinon studied the overly-handsome man standing there, waiting for her answer. _He looks like a model,_ she thought. _But he's not scaring me._ A small smile crept onto her lips. _I__ knew I'd be stronger in this world._ "For now," she said finally. _For a day or two. And then I'll split away from him._

Kirito nodded with a smile. "Well, then, shall we get to work?" He swiped his right hand downward in a gesture Sinon memorized, opening his menu; after a second, Sinon received an invitation to join his party. She accepted, and the two made their way out to the rest of the world.

Just under a month later, Sinon entered the most recent town – the one on the 10th Floor – in a burst of light caused by a teleport crystal. Brushing her hair out of her eyes, she sighed with exhaustion; it had been a long afternoon of fighting, and she had died twice – once when she made a mistake, and once trying to retrieve her equipment. After she had calmed down and taken her time, though, she was able to kill the forest elves that had been menacing her and retrieve her equipment. She even managed to finish a quest she hadn't really wanted to take – it was just a simple monster killing quest that only rewarded her with Col and experience, but taking quests had become so ingrained in her actions that she had accepted it without even thinking about what she was doing. _Teach me to pay attention,_ she thought ruefully as she rolled her shoulder. She had felt an ache in there from throwing so many knives, even though this world was virtual; she preferred to stay back and use the ranged throwing knives, rather than get in the thick of combat like a muscle-bound idiot. That wasn't to say she couldn't use her dagger – she was quick enough with the blade sheathed on her hip, especially when using a throwing knife would just be a waste of resources – but that she felt more comfortable out of the direct fighting. She had built her character to be a mix of agility and dexterity; the agility let her move around and avoid attacks, while the dexterity increased her throwing speed and accuracy.

"Sinon!"

She blinked, and looked over to see Kirito waving as he enjoyed a drink at a café. _Oh, it's Kirito,_ she thought. _Think of the muscle-bound idiot._ A small smile crept onto her lips as she made her way over to him and sat down. "Kirito."

Kirito chuckled and sipped at his tea. "Still refusing to string more than three words together?" The two players had gotten to become fairly close friends over the month of the beta test; while they hadn't fought together all that often, they still partied occasionally for one of the harder quests or boss fights. In fact, they were some of the stronger players in the game, being two of the rare few willing to fight on the 10th Floor.

"No," Sinon replied with a smile. Kirito was one of two people she knew that could actually get under her skin and get her angry; however, most of the time the two friends just bantered back and forth. _I haven't seen Kazuto in a while,_ she thought with a sudden pang of chagrin. She had gotten so into the game and fighting in the world of Sword Art Online that she hadn't seen Kazuto for at least two weeks. _I hope he's not angry with me..._ She noticed Kirito seemed somewhat uneasy. "Something wrong?"

Kirito nodded slowly. "I have this friend in the real world, and we're really close. Thing is, I've been playing this game so much the past month that I haven't gotten the chance to hang out with her much." _Lucky girl,_ Sinon thought enviously. Kirito seemed like a bit of a jerk at first – standoffish and a bit of a flirt, if she was being honest with herself – but she had gotten to know him over the course of the month and recognized the kind heart inside the perfect exterior. Kirito stopped and looked at Sinon speculatively. "Hey, Sinon, you're a girl, right?"

"You noticed. I'm flattered," Sinon replied dryly. But she knew why Kirito asked; it wasn't to be rude, but to make sure the gender of the player was the same as the gender of the avatar. Sinon had been forced to play as a male for an hour or two thanks to some mischievous faeries on the 5th Floor, and she figured it would be inconvenient to play as a male for the entire time she was logged in. _Some people might be into that sort of thing, though, so I can't really judge._

Kirito looked away and scratched his cheek in embarrassment. "Sorry, that came out long. What I meant is, since you're a girl, maybe you could give me some advice on how to deal with this? She's a really good friend, and I'd hate it if she got mad at me."

_He's asking me?_ Sinon thought incredulously. _I don't even know how to deal with my own situation._ "I'd say just say hello the next time you can," she said finally. "If you two are that close, she'll probably just be glad to see you again." _I hope Kazuto won't be too mad..._ Sinon worried. _But he did say he was busy this month..._

Kirito grinned, unaware of Sinon's private issues. "Thanks, Sinon. That helps a lot." He blinked, then. "Wait, did you actually say two whole sentences?"

"No." Sinon grinned at the exasperated look her friend gave her. _This is fun._

* * *

><p><strong>Modified: 1225/14 (modified the middle segment so it was less shitty)**

* * *

><p><strong>Hi. I was reading some stuff, and I wondered, 'What would happen if Shino and Kazuto were friends?' Not gonna lie, I was inspired to write this by 'The Swordsman and The Archer', by eXSum (which is pretty good, but I thought I could do better. eXSum, if you see this, no offense – I'm just an egotistical prick like that).<strong>

**Stuff about this story:**

**1) Third-person limited. As such, we'll be able to hear the thoughts of the person who's shoulder we're riding, but that's it.**

**2) Point of View will probably change around now and then, but it'll mostly stick with Shino. Because I adore her character arc. As for her characterization, I don't have that much experience with her yet, but hopefully this will fix that issue; she might seem a little broken right now, but remember, by the time we met her in Phantom Menace - er, Phantom Bullet - she had already spent several months perfecting her Sinon persona. Plus, an extra two or three years to deal with the bullying.**

**3) **_Italics _**are the point of view character's thoughts; BOLD (that's not in an author's note) is a system announcement.**

**4) The main pairing for this is Kirito and Sinon, but there will definitely be some Kirito and his harem. Not gonna say more; you'll have to read on and find out.**

**5) I figured that Kirito, in the beta test, would be somewhat of a flirt. Just because he's playing a role and he made his avatar that way and all. Feel free to tell me I'm stupid and dumb for this decision.**

**6) Sinon will be kinda snarky internally – and externally, when it comes to Kirito – as will other characters; this is because I have a crippling affliction** **(the medical term is wise-ass syndrome) that forces me to write characters with sarcasm dripping from their every word. I will do my best to control myself, but I can't guarantee anything. (I also have an affliction that requires me to give every main character a cool title. This, I will not be controlling)**

**7) As mentioned above, this story was inspired by 'The Swordsman and the Archer' by eXSum, and I did get their permission to use some of the story details in the beginning. However, in an attempt to avoid having the two stories be too similar, I have most of this story planned out already. Therefore, any similarities between the two stories beyond the first few chapters (few meaning four or five, until the 1st Floor boss fight) are purely coincidental.**

**Above all please leave a review if you like what's here, or if you think I can fix some things. Please, tell me; that's the only way I can get better as a writer. I'm experimenting a little bit with this one, so tell me what you think!**

* * *

><p>Thanks to <strong>ThisIsTheGreastestUsername<strong> for the story cover!


	2. Sinon

**Chapter 2: Sinon**

* * *

><p>Shino was understandably nervous when lunchtime came around; it was the first day back from summer break, and she hadn't seen Kazuto much ever since August and the Sword Art Online beta testing started. <em>Would he still come?<em> she wondered. The bullies had been kept away by Kazuto's unfailing appearance twice a day - once at lunch, and once at the end of classes - but if he started skipping appearances, Shino knew his presence would start losing its impact. _But I can be strong,_ she told herself. _Like Sinon._ She reached into her bag and took out the packed lunch she had made for herself; living alone meant that she had to fix her own meals and do her own dishes, so she liked to make her lunch the night before and keep it in the fridge to save time in the mornings. She was always groggy when she first woke up, making breakfast more of a hassle than it really had to be, and on the unfortunately all-too-common occurrences when she woke up screaming from a nightmare, she was in no shape to do more than make some toast.

Something in her - some instinct or reflex - told her to look up, and she obeyed to see Kazuto standing there, his own packed lunch in hand. "Hello, Shino," he said, and calmly took his usual seat. _It's just like it always was. _The black-haired boy dug into his own lunch, and Shino recognized the way he devoted himself to the meal. _Well, his appetite hasn't changed, at least._

Shino smiled. "Hello, Kazuto," she replied, and set to work on her own lunch; she was startled to realize just how much the issue of Kazuto's appearance had worried her until that worry had been lifted from her shoulders.

* * *

><p><strong>November 6th, 2022<strong>

Two months and change later, Shino said goodbye to Kazuto in front of her apartment. As she had hoped, he wasn't mad that they hadn't seen each other much; he still ate lunch with her at school and walked her home every day. _He could have stood to be a little more apologetic,_ Shino thought privately. _Though, I guess I'm at fault, too._ She hadn't expected to get so addicted to Sword Art Online; however, in the virtual world, she was strong. She loved being Sinon, the strong and cool warrior who wasn't afraid of anything, instead of being Shino, a weak and frail girl that needed someone to save her when she got trapped by her fear. "Kazuto?" she asked. _I wonder if he'd like me more if I was like Sinon?_

Kazuto turned around. "Yes?"

Shino opened her mouth, fully intending to ask him if he would prefer it if she were stronger, more able to stand on her own, and then froze. _Wait_, _what am I thinking? I can't ask him if he'd like me more, that would be too embarrassing!_ Shino shook her head, trying to shake away the thoughts. "N-never mind. I'll see you tomorrow."

Kazuto smiled. "Okay, Shino. See you later." With those parting words, he turned around and made his way to his own house. Shino watched him walk away like she always did until she couldn't see him any longer; once he had crested the hill and was out of sight, she went back inside and into her room. The servers went online at 1:00, so Kazuto and Shino had spent time together in the morning instead of the afternoon at her suggestion. Kazuto didn't seem to mind shifting their time up earlier - strangely enough, he seemed almost eager to do so, even though that meant he'd have to wake up before ten or eleven on a Sunday, the horror - so Shino hoped he hadn't been put out by it. The two of them spent quite a bit of time together, although it was understandable; Shino hadn't made any other friends due to her shyness and the rumors about her past, and to her Kazuto had always seemed more interested in his games than in other people.

Shino followed the familiar routine of setting up Sword Art Online: setting up the NerveGear, slotting in the game cartridge, and putting the helmet on. _Here we go,_ she thought. _I'm going back in._ She had only known the game world for a month, but she already loved the world; she was strong there, and nobody picked on her there. _Sinon is so strong,_ Shino thought. _I wish I was more like her._ Because to Shino, Sinon was a different person, someone who was unaffected by Shino's weakness.

The time in the top right of her display ticked over to 1:00, and Shino smiled. "Link start!"

Because she already had an account from the beta test, the logging in process was quick and painless; the senses were checked to make sure the connection was solid, and then Sinon was back in the game. She reached her arms up, stretching, and flexed, grabbing at the sky. _It's__ good to be back._ After a moment of luxuriating in the sensation of finally being Sinon again, she turned around and walked through the crowd of people experiencing Aincrad for the first time. _First item of business: get some Col, then get some knives._ Her dagger was usable – she certainly knew how, after fighting for a month – but she definitely preferred to be in the back. The best place to get Col in the early game, she knew, was the open fields outside of the Town of Beginnings. _Not that I really need to stick around here for long,_ Sinon thought, _but I'm still a little too weak to safely travel._ She and Kirito had waited until level 2 before they moved on from the boars that spawned around the starting area; if they had died against the boars, it was trivial to retrieve their items. And they had definitely died - actually fighting with their own body was strange at first and led to plenty of initial deaths, though Kirito had managed to get the hang of it faster than Sinon.

The first thing she needed to do, Sinon knew, was set up her build and get working on collecting enough money to afford the throwing picks and knives that made her so deadly in the beta. Swiping open her menu, she selected the two skills she used the most, One-Handed Dagger Proficiency and Blade Throwing; being able to hit the weak spot of anything from far away was good, but Sinon had realized fairly quickly in the beta that she needed something to protect herself up close – hence the Dagger Proficiency. That done, Sinon made her way through the alleys of the Town of Beginnings, doing her best to avoid the crowds clogging the streets. She might be Sinon instead of Shino, but her experience with large crowds and small spaces had still soured being around large amounts of people for her. She could handle it with Kazuto by her side, but Kazuto wasn't there; as Sinon, she had built a persona of a cool, calm, and collected individual - some might go so far as to say slightly arrogant - so the beta testers that had known her hadn't bothered her much. _Imagine, someone coming up to me and asking for help,_ she thought as she moved quickly through an alley.

When she finally exited the Town of Beginnings, her heart started beating faster; she was ready to fight. A blue boar spawned, the gleam of light catching her eye, and she loosened the dagger in its sheath. _Poor thing,_ she thought. _Bad luck spawning near me._ And then she lunged forward into battle; she initiated the combat with a lunging Sword Skill, «Driver», by drawing the dagger and tucking it close to her side. Once the blade started glowing with an orange light, she let the system take over, pushing along with the forced movement to increase the speed and power of the move; she moved like a streak of light, driving the point of the dagger deep into the neck of the boar. It squealed in pain and got knocked aside by the impact; Sinon knew by the distance it flew that she had managed to get the critical hit by striking at the back of the head. After getting back to its feet, the boar scraped at the ground with a forehoof – _how lifelike,_ Sinon thought absently – and charged her; she parried the charge with her dagger and shoved the boar aside, trusting in its momentum to carry it away from her. Once she had enough room, she drew the dagger back, pulling it back behind her ear; from the corner of her eye, she saw a gleam of blue light and threw forward, letting go when her muscle memory told her to. "«Single Shot»." The dagger accelerated until it was just a streak of blue light and slammed into the back of the boar's head – it squealed and then died instantly, bursting into bright blue light.

Sinon sighed slightly as she walked over to pick up her dagger. _I miss my throwing knives._ But the best ones had to be made by a player blacksmith, and there weren't any of those yet. She knew she could have picked up some of the wooden throwing picks that most players used, but she just didn't want to settle for something inferior. If she were to be perfectly honest with herself, she could have used anything as a throwing weapon, even a pebble - _Who'd use a pebble as a __weapon,_ she thought with a small grin at the mental image - but the Blade Throwing skill only helped when the thrown item was, well, a blade. Specialized items, like the throwing picks or the throwing knives she had been using at the end of the beta, did more damage as projectiles, but Sinon knew that throwing her regular dagger would kinda get the job done. _Although then I'm out of luck if some other enemy attacks,_ she thought wryly. That had happened more than once during the beta; running out of throwing knives, resorting to throwing her dagger, and then getting attacked by the enemies that were still alive. She had heard stories about the Martial Arts extra skill and had meant to try finding it on the second floor, just so she could have some way to defend herself when she ran out of other options, but the beta ended before she could track down the quest-giver.

Sinon spent the next few hours hunting down the various boars that spawned in the fields; she was good enough at fighting that she didn't even get scratched by the weak level 1 mobs. It was about 5:15 and the sun was starting to set when she headed to her favorite spot on the 1st Floor; it was a cliff looking over a series of floating islands, each with a beautiful pool or rainbow over it. Sinon sat down, dangling her feet off of the edge. It was too beautiful for her to just pass up, with birds flying in formation in the distance; even though she was just beginning to get hungry, nothing could tear her away from the lovely view. She and Kirito had spent quite a bit of time at that spot when they were both lower levels and taking a break from fighting; this spot was somehow perfectly situated to offer both a great view and access to the symphony that was the song of the flying creatures that Sinon could see occasionally flying high in the sky. That song, to her, seemed like the birds were laughing, happy to be flying free.

"I had a feeling I'd find you here, Sinon."

Sinon smiled at the familiar voice and turned to see Kirito standing there. "Hi." She stood up and, moving over to her black-haired friend, sent him a friend request; he accepted it without hesitation and grinned at her. She looked over Kirito's shoulder and raised an eyebrow at the man she saw – he was tall with bright red hair that was being held back by a bandana. "Who's this?"

Kirito stepped to the side to perform the introductions. "Oh, right. Sinon, Klein. Klein, this is Sinon. She's a friend of mine from the beta test and-"

"Hi, my name's Klein!" The man rushed forward and grabbed Sinon's hand, cutting off whatever Kirito was going to say next. "I'm 24, and single, and looking for a-" He cut off suddenly and sank to his knees, clutching at his stomach in pain.

Sinon looked over to see Kirito standing there, one fist clenched, and said, "Thanks."

He grinned and rubbed the back of his head. "I know you can take care of yourself, but I figured I'd do you a favor and save you the trouble." Sinon smiled at her friend, and he returned it before turning to the groaning man. "Get up. There's no pain, remember?" _He'll still be winded,_ Sinon knew from painful experience, _but it doesn't actually hurt._

"Oh. Yeah." Klein shifted to a sitting position, and Sinon took her favorite seat at the edge of the cliff, dangling her feet and kicking idly. "When I look around, I can't believe it. We're inside a _game_, bro!" Sinon smiled as he voiced the same private thoughts she had the first time she logged into the beta version of the game.

The three players sat there, two sitting and one standing, just drinking in the scene and basking in the atmosphere. The soft orchestrated background music, the beautiful sunset... _If only I could share this with Kazuto,_ Sinon thought with a sigh. The next second, of course, she turned bright red. _Not that I want to watch a sunset with him or anything, _she thought, trying to convince herself. _I just want... I want..._ She didn't know what she wanted when it came to Kazuto. Some times, it seemed like she didn't want him to leave, while other times she was so embarrassed by his closeness that she just wanted to go up to her room and hide under the sheets. _This is so confusing... _She didn't know why he was in her thoughts so much, but whenever she thought about the subject she told herself it was because she was just grateful to him for being there - and that because he _was_ her only friend, it was only natural for her to want to share things she enjoyed with him.

Standing up, Klein caught her attention. "Hey... I was gonna go meet up with some people I know from another game," he said. "I don't know what you're up to after this, but if, you know, if you two want to friend them and hang with us..."

Kirito looked at Klein, somewhat shocked. Sinon just shook her head slowly. "I work alone." Her occasional partying with Kirito was the closest she ever got to working with others. _A little friendly, _she thought critically. _We did just meet, after all. Though I suppose he's letting Kirito vouch for me._

"N-no, it's cool if you don't want to. No pressure," he said with a wave of his hand. "I can always introduce you to them another time or something."

"Yeah, sorry," Kirito said as he looked down with a half-smile. "Thanks anyway." Sinon had gotten to know that half-smile well during that month-long beta test; it showed up whenever Kirito was feeling down or mentally beating himself up. She laid a hand on his shoulder and he looked up, startled, before smiling at her. _That's better,_ Sinon thought with satisfaction. _You don't get to feel bad on the first day of the game._

"No way!" Klein exclaimed. "I should be the one doing all the thanking."

Sinon looked at Kirito. "Showing him the ropes?" He nodded and she grinned at him. "You're too nice."

"Hey," Klein said. "One of these days, I promise I'm gonna pay you back for all your help. Virtually, that is." Kirito looked shocked at the gratitude Klein was showing and murmured something about not doing much. "Thanks for everything, man. Really." Klein held out his hand. "Guess I'll see you around, then."

Kirito shook the man's hand. "If there's anything else you want to know, message me or Sinon." _Volunteering my services, is he? _Regardless, Sinon grinned at Klein, who returned the grin. _He seems nice,_ she thought. _And it's a good thing this is still virtual, or I'd be terrified right now._

"Will do, buddy." With that, Klein turned to log out.

Sinon turned to Kirito. "Have fun today?"

"Of course," was his instant reply. "But not as much fun as when I'm with you."

Sinon struggled to give him a dour look before reluctantly giving in to the grin that refused to hide itself. "Flatterer. You're just saying that because I don't have my knives yet."

"I'd say it after you get them, too," Kirito said with a grin, "but at that point I'd be too afraid for my personal safety."

"Huh?" Klein said from behind them, and the two beta testers turned to look at their friend. "Where'd the logout button go?" Sinon frowned, confused. _It should be in the options menu at the bottom, since nothing else has changed._

"It should be there," Kirito said, voicing her thoughts.

Klein hummed in thought, scrolling through the menu. "No, it's not there," he said finally.

Kirito and Sinon made their way over to his avatar, looking confused. They both swiped open their menus and made their way to where the logout had been with practiced ease. "Eh?" "Wha...?" they said simultaneously when they discovered their logout buttons were missing as well. _Everything else is here,_ Sinon thought. _Why just the Logout option?_

"See, it's not there!"

Kirito was confused. "You're right, it's not."

Klein turned to the two and said, in a slightly more upbeat voice, "Oh well. It's the first day outta beta; there's bound to be some bugs." He laughed. "I bet the server people are freaking out right now."

Kirito pointed to the clock at the top of his status screen showing his equipment. "You will too. Look, it's 5:25."

Upon hearing the time, Klein's face was hilarious; his eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. He clutched his head in his hands, saying, "Oh my god, my Teriyaki Mayo pizza and Ginger Ale!" He continued to freak out; Sinon gathered through the gibberish and ranting that he had ordered a pizza to be delivered at his home fairly close to 5:30.

"Why don't you just contact the game master?" Kirito asked calmly.

Immediately, Klein stopped freaking out. "Eh? Yeah, I did that, but nothing's happening; he's not picking up." Klein looked at Kirito, hope in his eyes. "Do you know if there's another way to log out of this thing?"

Kirito looked aside, and when he looked back his face was the most serious Sinon had ever seen it. "No. There's no other way." He looked into the distance, past Klein. "Whenever a player wants to log out of SAO, the only way they can do it is by going through the menu."

"That can't be right," said Klein. He tried a variety of different methods including striking poses and shouting; nothing happened, and suddenly the beautiful world Sinon loved so much seemed much more dangerous and imposing than before. The song of the flying animals no longer seemed melodious; now, to her, it seemed raucous and mocking, as if the bird-like creatures were laughing at her predicament.

"Told you so," said Kirito. He looked upset, but continued. "And there was no emergency exit in the manual, either."

"No way," Klein whispered, totally stunned. "Is it possible to just remove the NerveGear? That would break the connection and force a logout."

Sinon shook her head as Klein tried to do that, grabbing at his head and pulling. "Don't bother. Once you're in here, your real body doesn't move." She glanced at Kirito's stunned and blank face, thinking, _He's starting to scare me._ "The NerveGear cancels everything you do from inside the game."

Klein looked totally shocked. "Seriously? So now we gotta wait until someone gets to fixing the bug."

Kirito still hadn't changed his expression in some time. "That, or wait until someone in the real world comes along and takes the NerveGear off us. That's it." At his words, Sinon suddenly felt chills; she lived alone, and the only person that would care enough to come get her would be Kazuto. She suddenly felt very lonely, longing for his company, for his presence to reassure her that she would be okay; but she shook her head, chasing away the doubt and insecurity as best she could. _I'm Sinon now,_ she told herself. _I don't need him to feel strong._

Klein shook his head. "I live alone. You?"

"I've got a mom and a sister, and I'm pretty sure they'll notice by dinnertime, but -" The rest of Kirito's words were cut off when Klein rushed over and grabbed his shoulders. The tall man's face was comical, and Sinon started to giggle.

"You- you got a sister? How old is she, what's she like?" _I'm not sure if he's asking out of desperation or desire._

For the first time after learning that they couldn't log out, Kirito's expression changed; he was surprised and taken aback, his right foot slightly lifted off the ground. "Uh….she's into sports and hates games and is totally not your type, man!" Klein kept pressuring him, walking closer and forcing Kirito to keep stepping back. Their faces were getting more and more extreme, and despite herself Sinon couldn't help but smile and start to laugh. _Men,_ she thought with a chuckle. "She wouldn't date a gamer if he's the last guy –"

Klein interrupted him. "Who cares! I wanna –" Only for him to be interrupted in turn as Kirito's knee slammed into his groin; Klein flew backwards, tears streaming from his eyes, and landed on his rear in the grass. He squirmed in imagined pain, before he stopped and said, "Oh yeah, gettin' kneed in the balls doesn't hurt."

Sinon looked at Kirito, hopeful that the incident would have snapped him out of his depression, but he looked like he had already gotten over it. "Get serious. Don't you think this is weird?"

Klein nodded. "Yeah, totally. But it's just a bug, right?" _I'm not so sure,_ Sinon thought. _Something's off._

"This isn't just a bug," Kirito said, apparently thinking the same thing. "If we can't log out, it's going to cause some serious problems for the game." There had been a rumor floating around during the beta test that one player had pulled three all-nighters in a row, not logging off even to eat or go to the bathroom. Sinon had tried very hard to not think about the physical condition that player had to have been in when they finally logged out.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," said Klein.

Kirito looked off into the distance, toward the edge of Aincrad. "I wonder if the developers even know what's happening, because they could shut down the server and log everyone out." His eyes narrowed as he delved deeper into his thoughts. "But why haven't they made an announcement?" Sinon looked at him before sighing and going to her own thoughts.

_I wonder if Kazuto will get worried and come over?_ she thought. _He__ said he'd see me later. But would he care enough to come check on me? _It was a foolish thought, really, and Sinon knew that; he was her friend, nothing more, and besides, he had no reason to think she was playing Sword Art Online. Kazuto might suspicious when she didn't answer any of his messages or pick up her phone when he called - she always answered when he called her - but other than that, he probably wouldn't feel too worried.

Suddenly, her thoughts were scattered by the loud, deep rumbling of a bell. The three players all looked to the source of the sound, unconsciously drawing in breath, as the bell rang throughout the server; they remained motionless, unsure of what to do. Sinon heard Kirito's breath trembling slightly. _That's probably just him getting ready for battle,_ she thought. She'd seen it before. Suddenly, everything faded to white.

* * *

><p>When Sinon's vision cleared, the three of them were standing in the spawn area – they had been teleported there by an unknown person. She looked around, confused, as hundreds of other players were teleported in around her; the bell was stilling tolling ceaselessly, and the crush of players started making her uncomfortable. She pressed closer to Kirito unconsciously, and he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.<p>

When the flashes of blue light stopped appearing, so did the bell. "Someone forced a teleport," Kirito whispered. The murmurs of the crowd were getting louder and louder as everyone started talking at once, confused. When a loud sound rang out above them, the questions and murmuring stopped as everyone looked up to see the cause. They all focused on a single flat red hexagon that said 'WARNING' in blood-red text. Soon after that, more red hexagons spread out, covering the sky and tinting the area the color of the cursor that hovered above the boar Sinon had fought earlier. Some read 'WARNING', while others read 'System Announcement'. Sinon had no idea what was going on, and just huddled close to Kirito; to his credit, the only thing that betrayed his fear was the slight trembling of his hand on her shoulder.

Blood started pouring from the cracks between the hexagons, but when it dropped down, it didn't reach the ground; instead, it hovered in midair, collecting and forming into a cloaked human figure. "What the hell is that thing?" Klein asked in an incredulous tone of voice.

The hooded figure spread its arms wide and spoke. **Attention players.** _He sounds like a god,_ Sinon thought as she scrambled to figure out what was going on. **I welcome you to my world.**

"What's he talking about?" Kirito muttered. "My world...?" _No..._ Sinon thought. _It couldn't be..._

**My name is Akihiko Kayaba, and as of this moment, I am in control of this world.** Sinon's jaw dropped, and Kirito's hand tightened on her shoulder; she turned to see his face white. **I'm sure most of you have already noticed an item missing from your main menus**** – ****the logout buttons.** _He's going to fix it,_ Sinon thought wildly. _This is just an announcement telling us not to worry._ **Let me assure you, this is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect. This is how Sword Art Online was designed to be.**

_...Well, shi-_

"He's kidding, right?" Klein demanded. Several other players asked the same question.

Sinon found her eyes stuck to the robed figure as it continued to speak. **You cannot log yourselves out of SAO. And no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the NerveGear from your head.** Sinon's breath was coming harsh and quickly as she stared up at Kayaba's gigantic form. **If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the NerveGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life.**

_End a life..._ Sinon trembled as the memories came pouring back. The man's face as he collapsed, the cold metal in her hands, the smell of gunpowder. She didn't even notice that she had started trembling or that Kirito's hand had shifted to her back, rubbing it comfortingly, just like Kazuto did when he rescued her that first time. She didn't listen to Klein's next question, or Kirito's reply. _Not again..._

**Despite my warning, the families and friends of some of the players have tried removing the NerveGear. An unfortunate decision, to say the least.** _Stop it..._ Sinon wanted to wail. _No more..._ But Kayaba kept talking, his calm and deep voice relentlessly driving into her head. **As a result, the game now has 213 less players than when it began. They've been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world.**

"213? That many?" Klein said, and shook his head. "No way. I don't believe it!"

As if he had heard Klein's words, the GM gestured and screens appeared, circling the hooded figure. **As you can see, international media outlets have round-the-clock coverage of everything, including the deaths.** Sinon looked up reluctantly, then, staring at the screens. **At this point, it's safe to assume the likelihood of a NerveGear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game.**

"Clear the game..." Sinon murmured. _That would mean we'd have to clear all one hundred floors. But Kirito and I only made it to the 10th Floor, and we died hundreds of times. How..._

**It's important to remember the following: there is no longer any way to revive someone within the game; if your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system... forever. And the NerveGear will simultaneously destroy your brain.**

Sinon's breath ripped harshly from her lungs as she gasped. _If I die..._ She had a brief image Kazuto standing by her bed, a tear rolling down his cheek; her mother, sobbing on the floor. That image, surprisingly, calmed Sinon down. _No. I'm not going to let her get hurt,_ Sinon resolved. _I'll make it out of here and see Kazuto again. _She didn't think about how he was her first thought, or her main reason to survive, or what that meant.

**There is only one way for a player to escape now; you must clear the game.** _I knew it,_ Sinon thought angrily. Kayaba selected an option from his menu, and a holographic map of Aincrad appeared with a red dot on the bottom. **Right now, you are all gathered on Floor One, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor.** The red dot traveled through the map until it reached the top. **When you defeat the final boss, only then will you be allowed to log out of Sword Art Online.**

Everyone was stunned and confused. Cries of "How can we believe you?" and "What does he mean?" rang out. Klein whispered, "We can't clear all 100 floors. That's freaking impossible. Even the beta testers never made it that far!" Sinon and Kirito exchanged glances; he wasn't wrong. Klein put his head in his hands. "This is... What's the point? Why would anyone do this to us?"

Sinon pointed into the sky. "I'm pretty sure he's about to tell us."

**Right now, you're probably wonder****ing****, 'Why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and NerveGear, do this?'** _That is,_ Sinon thought, _the million dollar question._ **Ultimately, my goal was a simple one. The reason I created Sword Art Online was to control the fate of a world of my design.**

"Kayaba..." Kirito growled. Sinon looked up to see him glaring at the robed figure. For an instant, she could have sworn that she saw blazing flames surrounding her friend from the beta. _I must be seeing things,_ she told herself, because the next instant they were gone.

**As you can see, I have achieved my goal of creating a separate reality in this game. And to prove my words, I have given you all a gift. Please, examine your inventories.**

At his words, Sinon opened her menu and looked in her inventory; aside from the drops she had managed to get from the boars, there was only one new item – a «Hand Mirror». She took it out and looked at it curiously, but all she saw was her avatar's reflection. _And what is this supposed to prove?_ she wondered. Suddenly, the mirror reflected light from nowhere, blinding Sinon for a second; when she could see past the spots in her eyes, she looked back at the mirror and almost dropped it in shock as her own black eyes stared back at her. _That's...my..._ She raised a hand to tug at the black hair that framed her face, tied back with a white ribbon. _That's my face!_

"Shino?" Kazuto's voice asked incredulously.

_Kazuto is here?_ Sinon looked around, confused, and caught Klein staring at her – or, who she assumed to be Klein. He still had that bandana, but his hair color had darkened and his hairstyle itself was a lot wilder. She looked at Kirito, wondering what he looked like in real life, but froze when she caught sight of her friend from the beta test.

"Kazuto?!" _What?!_

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><p><strong>Oh no, the truth is out. Whatever will Shino and Kazuto do?<strong>

**(Here's a hint: they're going to go adventuring)**

**Many thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, or reviewed. Please tell me what you did or didn't like about the chapter.**

**I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect this story to get big (I can read trends in the follow/favorite/review stats and extrapolate from there to predict their effect on my story just like everyone else) but I honestly didn't expect it to be this big this fast. Thanks, everyone!**

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><p><strong>By the way: ThisIsTheGreastestUsername left a review that was exactly what I was looking for. Hey, people, take a page from their book - I don't care if you think this story is the best thing ever (since I already know that, duh) but what I do care is what you think can be better. By no means stop the compliments (they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, a rare enough feeling these days) but I want some criticism so I can grow as a writer. This might only be a hobby, but who knows? Maybe some day these talents can come in handy. So kudos to you, ThisIsTheGreastestUsername.<strong>


	3. The Horunka Forest

**Chapter 3: The Horunka Forest**

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><p><strong>November 6th, 2022<strong>

"Kazuto?!" _What?!_ Shino could scarcely believe it. Standing there, staring back at her in shock, was her best friend Kazuto. "I... You... But he..."

Kazuto reached out and poked her cheek gently, as if trying to make sure she was real. "Shino..." he whispered. "You're Sinon?" Shino flushed a deep red at his hesitant touch, and Kazuto snatched his hand away hurriedly.

Wondering about his reaction, Shino suddenly had an epiphany of her own. _He asked me about his friend at the end of the beta! He was talking to me about me!_ She blushed again, the heat rising to her face. She had given him advice about how to deal with the situation, but it turned out the situation was how to deal with herself and... _I'm so embarrassed._ "Y-you're not mad?" she asked quietly. "I wanted to experience your world, so I signed up for the beta test."

Kazuto shook his head. "No, of course I'm not mad. I'd never be -" He cut himself off then. "We can talk about this later. First, we need to get out of here."

She thought about his words carefully. "You want us to get to the next town as soon as possible," she said finally.

Kazuto nodded. "Yeah." Without even looking around for Klein, Kazuto started pushing his way through the crowd of stunned people, Shino following in his wake; he accidentally jostled the elbow of a young girl with brown hair and caused her to drop the mirror held loosely in the palm of her hand.

As if the shattering of that mirror was the catalyst to set off the reaction, everyone started screaming and panicking, hoping that someone would hear their cries and release them from the death trap they had all suddenly found themselves in. Shino saw a few players just slump down to their knees, not even trying to avoid the crush of bodies. She felt a moment of pity for them, but it was swallowed up by her need to get out of the Town of Beginnings; Kazuto wanted to go, and she wanted to go with Kazuto.

They had just turned into an alley away from prying eyes, where the two stopped when they heard Klein call out, "Kirito? Sinon?"

"Klein..." Kazuto whispered, his eyes widening slightly. "Should we invite him?" Kazuto murmured to the black-haired girl.

Shino shrugged minutely, shifting her weight back and forth. "It's your call."

Kazuto gritted his teeth and then turned around to face Klein, who had walked up behind the pair of beta testers. "Okay, Klein, listen. Sinon and I are heading out for the next village, and we want you to come." Klein could only make a strangled sound, like he tried to say something and ask a question at the same time. Kazuto took that sound as a cue to continue. "If what he said was true, and I think it is, the only way we're going to survive in here is by making ourselves as strong as possible."

He swiped his right hand to pull up a map of the first floor; three red dots were blinking in a red area, which Shino knew represented the town the were in. "In an MMORPG, the money you can earn, the EXP... Once the game starts up there's only so much of that stuff to go around. Look, the fields around the Town of Beginnings will be hunted clean soon. If we head to the next village now, we'll have an easier time collecting cash and points." He looked up at Klein. "Don't worry – Sinon and I know all the paths and places we should avoid. Even if we're level 1, the two of us can get us there easy."

Klein rubbed the back of his neck. "Uehh... Thanks for the offer, but you know those friends of mine I was telling you about? We stood in line for a whole night to buy this..." Shino sucked in a breath suddenly; Klein was one thing, but a whole group? Klein grinned sadly. "They're back there, in the plaza. And I can't leave them."

Shino lowered her gaze, fidgeting with one of the ribbons in her hair; she was secretly glad that Klein had turned down Kazuto's offer. She glanced at Kazuto to see him looking torn on the inside, and she touched his arm; he jerked slightly, and then looked at Shino as if seeing her for the first time. She smiled at him, and he slowly returned it.

"Sorry," Klein said, breaking the two from their moment. "Can't ask two people I just met to risk their lives for a bunch of strangers, can I? So don't worry about me, get your asses to the next village." He smiled, and gestured at himself with his thumb. "I'll be fine! In the last game I played, I ran a guild, so I'm more than prepared. And with all the stuff you taught me, Kirito, I'll get by, no sweat."

Kazuto nodded slowly. "Okay. If that's what you want, we'll get going." Shino could hear the pain in his voice as he said that.

She turned to Klein. "Klein, if you're ever in trouble, message one of us." _Any friend of Kazuto's is someone I'll help out,_ she decided. _Even if he does look a little intimidating._

"We'll be seeing you, Klein," Kazuto said. "Take care." As one, Shino and Kazuto turned and started running down the dark alleyway.

"Kirito! Sinon!" The two stopped in their tracks at Klein's voice; Klein hesitated before continuing. "Hey, Kirito? Uh... you look better like this. Way cooler than your avatar. And Sinon, I think you're cuter this way."

Shino gave him a small reluctant smile and Kazuto turned around with a grin. "Yeah, and I think that scruffy face fits you ten times better, too." Without another word, he turned and ran down the alleyway.

Before Shino raced to catch up to her friend, she smiled at Klein and gave him a small wave. "See you, Klein. Don't die, okay?" It had started out as a joke between Kirito and Sinon that she never spoke more than three words in a sentence; however, it became almost a defense mechanism for her when she needed to talk to someone she wasn't comfortable with, or if she was just feeling uncomfortable in general. She turned around to catch up to Kazuto; he had stopped by a shop's window to wait for her. When she got closer, he turned around, as if to look for Klein again, apologize for leaving him behind; but, Klein was gone. Kazuto stared at the entrance to the alleyway, eyes shining, before turning around and racing for the exit to the town as fast as his feet could carry him.

Shino sighed. _If only I were stronger..._ She knew from experience that when Kazuto started feeling guilty, he needed someone to snap him out of it; she did her best, but sometimes she just wasn't strong enough to help her friend. She knew he regretted leaving Klein behind, and so did she; but the two had no choice if they were going to survive. _Our survival is paramount, and if that means we have to leave him behind..._ Shino blinked away the feelings of guilt and regret and just focused on the rhythm of her feet against the pavement. The two beta testers raced through the empty streets and out into the fields, not stopping to buy supplies and items; Kazuto ran as fast as he could, and Shino realized she was having a hard time keeping up.

As they ran down the dirt path that led to the next town, a flash of blue light caught Shino's eye. "Kazuto!" she called out. "Dire Wolf!" Without stopping, Kazuto drew his sword and Shino her dagger; they both charged up a Sword Skill and with a lunge released the energy, unleashing the power of the weapons. They dashed through the beast, cutting it in half and letting it break into blue polygons behind them, not even waiting for the results screen to appear before carrying on.

"What makes a death game a death game?" Kazuto murmured absently as they were running down the path. "Most games have an element of danger to them. Things like rock climbing and racing... but they aren't death games, just dangerous ones."

"Maybe..." Shino said. "Maybe it's that part of the rules include a death penalty?"

Kazuto glanced at her. "That might be it, Shino." He smiled at her, and Shino swore her heart skipped a beat. "Hey, Shino?" he said hesitantly as they moved down the path towards Horunka.

"Y-yes?" Shino asked, surprised.

"Um..." He looked away and scratched his cheek in that familiar gesture of sheepishness that Shino knew so well. "Since we know each other in real life, how should we address each other? I... I mean, I'm fine with whatever, so it's whatever you're comfortable with."

"O-oh..." Shino said. "Eh... What if you call me Shino when we're al-alone?" She blushed; that sounded a lot more forward than it sounded in her head. "A-and Sinon when we're in public?"

Kazuto nodded with a smile. "Okay, that works. And the same works for me, I guess."

Shino nodded. "Sure thing, Kazuto. But do you really want me calling you Shino?" She smiled at her friend, and he shook his head with a grin, chuckling. Suddenly a blue light came from behind him and Shino's eyes widened. "Watch out!" She drew her dagger and, triggering «Straight Shot», let it fly straight at the boar that had just charged Kazuto. With her skills in aiming, the dagger shot straight at the target she had chosen and slammed into its eye. Kazuto whirled in shock and drew his sword, attempting to parry the boar's charge, but because it had been blinded by Shino's dagger it stumbled and crashed to its side, sliding to a halt in front of her; she grabbed her dagger and sliced out, cutting into the boar's neck. It squealed in pain before bursting into blue polygons.

Shino sheathed her dagger and grinned at Kazuto. "Better watch your back, pal. I don't want to keep saving you." Kazuto just grinned at her.

Some time passed, and eventually they slowed down out of necessity; it was possible that if they kept running they would draw more attention than they wanted. "Kazuto?" Shino asked while they were walking toward the forest. "We're going to the forest near Horunka because it's got higher-leveled monsters, right?" She knew that the monsters would give out more experience and money, thus allowing them to get stronger faster. "Would you mind if we stopped by the shop first? I want to get some throwing picks." _I can't afford to be picky anymore,_ Shino knew.

Kazuto nodded. "Theoretically, the monsters that spawn there won't have the ability to inflict poison or any other dangerous debuffs. We would be able to survive in there even if we were playing solo. But yeah, it would help if you had your throwing picks." He shrugged. "Besides, I want to pick up the quest for the Anneal Blade. That sword should last me through the second floor and most of the third if I can get it upgraded enough."

Shino smiled at Kazuto's faraway look. _It's so cute how he gets about his swords,_ she thought fondly.

The pair of players walked into the village of Horunka just before the setting sun disappeared beneath the horizon. Taking a look around, Shino examined the village; however, it didn't seem to have changed much between the beta and the official release. The NPCs she had expected to be there were there, and the layout of the village was the same as she vaguely remembered. It seemed that the two beta testers were the first ones to arrive in the village, with an NPC cursor over every other 'person' that they saw. "Makes sense," Shino murmured.

"What's that?"

She blinked. "Oh, nothing, Kazuto. I was just thinking that we were the first ones here because we ran here without hesitation." Kazuto just shrugged and made his way toward the weapon shop. Once they were inside, Shino and Kazuto sold everything that they had collected – that is, the drops of the monsters they had killed – to be able to afford the new equipment that they needed; after selling everything she had collected, she had enough to get a few sets of throwing picks and even enough left over to get a leather vest. She equipped it, feeling the usual weight settle over her body as the vest appeared in a flash of light.

"That's... me..."

Shino looked over to see Kazuto standing in front of the full-length mirror. She walked over and took a look; he was staring at the reflection of his real face. _Sure, he's not as handsome as his avatar used to be,_ Shino thought critically, _but he's not bad._ His face was effeminate and his black hair hung over his eyes; Shino had a brief but potent desire to tie his hair up out of his face, to the point that her hand was twitching toward one of the ribbons tying back her own hair. _I wonder how he'd look..._ Suddenly, Kazuto shivered slightly and he shook his head, stepping away from the mirror.

Dropping her hand, Shino took a closer look in the mirror herself. _The vest, _Shino thought, _looks good._ It was green and dappled with the occasional leaf pattern stitched into the leather with a slightly darker thread; Shino had a feeling it would help her blend into the forest, what with the constantly shifting shadows.

After they finished up in the weapon shop – they had kept their starting weapons because the bronze items the weapon shop sold were weak against the acid various plant monsters spat – they moved on to the general store and bought as many recovery and antidote potions as they could afford. When they were done in there, they didn't have two coins to rub together between the two of them. The next step was one of the private homes in the village; Shino had never done the quest for the Anneal Blade, given that she used daggers and later throwing knives, but she trusted Kazuto knew where he was going. They stopped outside a house, and Shino realized Kazuto was giving it a thorough and critical evaluation. "It's different than before," he said finally.

"Really?" Shino asked. "That's impressive. How can you tell?"

Pointing at the roof and stone walls, Kazuto explained, "It's older, for one thing, and the walls are more cracked and covered in ivy than they used to be."

_Wow._ Shino shook her head. "I'm amazed. You really remember all that?"

"Absolutely," Kazuto said with a nod. "I try to memorize what's going on around me whenever I can. You never know what might give away a trap or an ambush. It's how I got high grades in my classes without really studying."

Shino just shook her head. "I hate child geniuses." _Geniuses__? Gen__i__ui? Whatever._

"You can't call me that," Kazuto complained, but there was no real . "I'm older than you!"

She just waved a free hand. "Whatever, child," she said in a patronizing tone, as if agreeing with a toddler that yes, she had been watching him when he jumped off the swing.

Kazuto rolled his eyes with a smile, giving up on trying to win the familiar argument, and entered the house. Shino followed him to see an NPC stirring a pot in the kitchen; she resembled the typical village housewife. When the two players entered the house, she turned around and said, "Good evening, journeying swordsmen. You must be tired – I would like to offer you some food, but I do not have any at the moment. All I can give is a cup or two of water."

"That will be fine," Kazuto replied immediately.

Shino didn't say anything at first, but when Kazuto nudged her, she hurriedly said, "I'd like some water, thank you." The kindly NPC poured water into two old-looking cup from a water jug and set it in front of the two children. They drank it down quickly, enjoying the cool drink. After she finished, she glanced at Kazuto. "Why did we accept the water?" she whispered to him. He just put his fingers to his lips and gestured over at the simmering pot. _Wait..._ Shino realized. _She said she didn't have any food, but there's something in the pot. Is it a hint?_

After a few seconds, the steady sound of a child's coughing could be heard from the other side of the door to the next room, and the NPC's shoulders seemed to slump in despair. A second or two after that, a golden question mark appeared above the woman's head, and Shino's eyes widened. "Is there something troubling you?" Kazuto called out instantly.

The question mark started to blink – Shino recognized one of the phrases that accepted quests – and the woman turned to Kazuto. "Actually, journeying swordsman, my daughter..." She proceeded to tell them everything: the daughter was stricken with a terrible illness that wasn't cured even when medicine from the market – what was inside the pot – was used. The only other way to cure the daughter was to have her drink medicine procured from the ovules of predatory plants in the forest further to the west. The only problem was, those plants were extremely dangerous; in addition, the ones with the necessary flowers were rarely seen. She promised a reward if Kazuto managed to retrieve the flower for her.

After hearing most of the speech, Shino stood up and made her way outside. The concern the mother had for her daughter just made her worry about her own mother; what was she thinking? The bell tolled slowly seven times, and Shino realized it was already the night. Shino's mouth suddenly felt dry and her eyes burned as she imagined her mother crouched by her bed, begging Shino to wake up, to open her eyes. She hadn't been able to protect her mother from pain this time. _I'm sorry, Mom._

"Please leave it to me!" she heard Kazuto exclaim inside, and she realized he had accepted the quest.

When he walked out of the house, she was waiting for him while leaning against the wall. "Ready to go?" she asked, fingering one of the throwing picks that were hanging from the inside of her vest.

"Just try to keep up," Kazuto replied in a calm manner. Shino grumbled under her breath, but she followed him into the forest regardless.

Shino knew from experience that night-time in Aincrad didn't mean darkness. There was always some sort of ambient light, whether it was just a small sourceless glow or some fungi or insect; because of this, it was possible to keep fighting as long as the player could stay awake. The faint light also let her follow Kazuto, who with his black hair and dark clothes would blend right in to the shadows of the forest otherwise. She tried to stick as close to Kazuto as possible and stepped where he stepped; she had a feeling that he had taken the Searching skill, one of the more important skills to a solo player, for his second skill slot. She had already chosen the skills for both of her slots before she had known it was going to be a death game; because of that, her skills were both suited toward combat. That did, however, mean that she had to rely on Kazuto for out-of-combat activities like avoiding combat in the first place.

Eventually, he raised a hand and stopped. "There's a Little Nepent around the tree," Kazuto whispered. "Remember, avoid hitting the fruit if it has one."

Shino glared at him, looking at him with her head tilted forward as if she were looking over invisible glasses. "I know, Kazuto," she said, as if explaining to a rather simple child. "I've fought them too, you know." He gave her a sheepish grin and gestured for her to go to the left while he went to the right. They slowly circled around the large tree and the monster appeared in Shino's sight; she shuddered slightly at the monster's appearance_._ The monster had countless roots writhing around that it used to moves; attached to the side were vines with pointed leaves. Where the head should have been was just a large mouth snapping open and shut, occasionally dribbling a viscous liquid.

"...A miss," Shino heard Kazuto murmur. Shino shrugged; the spawn rate might be low, but there was a trick to the monsters. Killing the ones that appeared would increase the chance that one of the monsters spawned with a flower attached to the head. Kazuto moved out into the clearing, drawing his sword and the monster's attention simultaneously. It howled, striking forward with the right vine; Kazuto jumped left the second it started to move, but Shino was still worried for him. She needed to wait until she had a clear shot, but she also needed to watch her back, so she couldn't afford worry about Kazuto.

The monster's mouth inflated suddenly, and in the next instant two throwing picks were already in Shino's hands and then streaking towards the Little Nepent; slamming into the neck that attached the mouth to the rest of the body, the throwing pick hit the weak spot and knocked the aim of the Nepent off. Kazuto kicked off to the left, avoiding what little spray was left, and sliced out with his glowing blade.

The Little Nepent was frozen for a second before the image was severed; after that, it burst into blue polygons. Shino sighed in relief as Kazuto straightened up, unharmed, and sheathed his sword. She watched the counter of experience points rising, approximately double what the boars had been giving her. She walked over to join Kazuto, and the two ran deeper into the forest once again.

Fifteen minutes later, more than ten Little Nepents were already slaughtered; Shino had been rationing her throwing picks, only using them when necessary and sticking to her dagger at other times. That way, in an emergency she could have resources. Of course, it also helped to level up her Dagger Proficiency, which was convenient enough. Unfortunately for Shino and Kazuto, though, a Little Nepent with a flower had yet to appear. _Damn those spawn rates,_ Shino thought sourly. _I want to sleep..._ But sleep was unacceptable until they had that flower.

After slaughtering the latest Little Nepent, a golden light surrounded Shino's body and she realized that she had leveled up. "Congrats," Kazuto said with a small grin. Shino nodded her thanks and allocated the three precious stat points she had managed to acquire, two in agility and one in dexterity. She knew she wanted to go for an agile build, and those two stats would help her use her projectile weapons better.

A Nepent or three later, Kazuto leveled up as well. She watched as he allocated his points, two to agility and one to strength, before closing the menu and rolling his shoulder. She opened her mouth to say 'Congratulations' or 'Good job' or 'Well done' or something like that when stiff clapping rang out in the clearing. Both Kazuto and Shino whirled, searching for the source of the sound. _I got careless,_ Shino berated herself. _I let my guard down. Another mistake like that and..._ She didn't even want to think about the outcome if she got caught off-guard again.

Kazuto had his hand to his sword, but he didn't actually draw once he and Shino had identified the source of the sound. Sinon's eyes widened as she realized another boy was standing there – slightly taller than the two beta testers, and around the same age, with the equipment from Horunka Village. Kirito hadn't drawn his sword because the stranger's sword was still sheathed; he had been applauding Kirito's level up. Kirito took a short breath before lowering his hands, and Sinon glared at the boy; the stranger gave her an awkward smile. "...S-sorry, for startling you like that. I should have said something from the start."

Sinon sighed. "It's fine."

"Sorry for the overreaction," Kirito mumbled.

The boy made a gesture familiar to Sinon; he raised his right hand to his right eye before lowering it with embarrassment immediately after. She realized that he wore glasses in real life, but that he must have taken them off before FullDiving, just like she had; she often adjusted her glasses like that. "C-Congrats on your level up," the boy said. "That was pretty quick."

Kirito ducked his head reflexively. "It's not that fast... And if you're going to say that, then you're fast too. I thought it would be two or three more hours before anyone reached this forest."

The boy chuckled. "I thought I would be the first to arrive too. The path to get here is rather confusing, after all." Sinon and Kirito exchanged a glance, silently realizing the same thing. "You're doing it too, right? The 'Secret Medicine of the Forest' quest?" Kirito nodded cautiously, and the boy made the same gesture, adjusting invisible glasses. "That's an indispensable quest to one-handed sword users, after all. When you get that Anneal Blade, it's good all the way to the third floor's Labyrinth."

Kirito grinned slightly. "The appearance isn't much to talk about, though." The boy let out a bright laugh at Kirito's words, and even Sinon cracked a small smile.

"Well..." the boy said. "This is a rare chance, so how about we all work together on the quest?"

Frowning, Sinon said, "I thought this was an individual-only quest, though." She and Kirito were working together because he was the only one that needed the flower; if the boy joined the party, they'd have to find and kill two Little Nepents with flowers on their heads.

The other boy just smiled. "Well, that's true, but the spawn chance of one with a flower will increase if the normal ones get hunted down as much as possible. With the three of us working together, it'll be more effective." She glanced at Kirito and saw him stiffen slightly. The boy saw it as well, because he shook his head, flustered. "No, it's fine. There's no obligation to form a party. You two got here first, so I'll concede the first flower to you. Once one spawns, a second should drop soon..."

Kirito murmured something incoherent, and Sinon stepped forward. "Those terms are acceptable." Kirito nodded, agreeing with her.

The boy stepped forward and offered his right hand, laughing again. "That's good to hear. Well, I'll be relying on you for the time being. I'm Coper, by the way."

"My name is Kirito," her partner said as he shook Coper's hand.

Sinon did the same. "Sinon." _Did we know a Coper?_

Coper lightly tilted his head to the side when he heard their names. "...Kirito and Sinon... where have I..."

"That's probably someone else," Kirito said immediately. "Come on, let's get hunting. We have to get two flowers before the other players get here."

Coper nodded. "Y...yea, that's right. Let's go for it."

The hunting went smoothly after the first few Little Nepents, despite how much Sinon hated fighting the same group of monsters over and over again – something Kirito had called grinding during the beta – in the game; Coper, Kirito, and Sinon settled into a rhythm of sorts, where either Coper or Kirito would attract the monster's attention and then the other two would strike at the weak point as hard as they could. Sinon, as a dagger and throwing pick user, wasn't able to use the range of a longsword to safely attract the attention of the Little Nepents, so she was relegated to rear guard while one of the others was attracting the enemy. _It's kinda boring, but..._ Sinon thought during a lull while she watched Kirito attract the attention of yet another Nepent without a flower. He looked over at her and waved; she gave him a fond smile and turned her attention back to the rest of the forest, watching for any enemies lying in ambush. _They're not getting to Kazuto on my watch._

Behind Kirito, Coper was fighting another Nepent; he turned around after killing his own foe. "...It's still not out..." he said with a faint trace of fatigue.

Kirito shrugged. "It could be that the spawn rate was changed after the beta period. It's not like it's the first time I've heard of an MMO that lowered the rate of rare drops after it officially went online..."

Coper sighed. "That's true. So, what now? We did manage to level up considerably, and the durability levels of our weapons have dropped quite a bit, so returning to town for the time being might..."

Coper trailed off as the three players all noticed the faint red light appearing under a tree. They were all familiar with the sight; it was a monster spawning. Sinon watched, eyes weary with exhaustion, as the rough polygons appeared and connected to one another. _If this isn't a flower Nepent, I don't even care any more. I'm going back to the inn, taking a bath, and then going to sleep._ The farming they had been doing had been enough to level each player up to level 3; that meant, of course, that fighting every Little Nepent that appeared wasn't necessary. The three players watched as the newest Nepent, number one hundred and change, finished spawning; it started moving around, the vines coiling. Sinon's eyes rose from the vines to the large mouth drooling acid to, above that, a large red flower that resembled a tulip. _Oh, you've got to be kidding me._

The boys sounded a muted war cry and charged toward the flower-topped Nepent, mindless of anything other than killing that monster that had eluded them for over an hour and a half. Suddenly, Sinon gasped. "Kirito!" she whispered harshly. Trusting her, he flung his arm out to hold Coper back and stopped moving. She rushed down to join them as Coper was looking at Kirito, confused; tapping them both on the shoulder, she pointed at some trees in the distance. There was another shadow in the trees, also a different shape from the regular Little Nepent. But this one, however, had a spherical ball at the end of the stalk on its head.

"What should we do...?" Kirito whispered. He gestured toward the one with a flower, and Sinon realized the petals were falling, a smooth round fruit growing in its place.

"...Let's go," Coper whispered. "I'll draw the fruit's attention, while you two finish off the flower one quickly." Without waiting for a reply, he dashed off toward the shadow in the trees.

Sinon and Kirito approached the Little Nepent, surrounding it; its stats were slightly higher, being a special monster, but the increase was negligible thanks to over an hour of grinding. Even if Kirito was having doubts like Sinon though, he moved by instinct, cutting out and parrying the vines as it attacked. Sinon cut out at the weak spot whenever she could get close, but that wasn't often thanks to the nature of the Nepent's attack patterns.

Eventually, she got tired of the dance. _Screw. This._ She dug out two throwing picks and, waiting for the second that Kirito parried another vine attack, threw them at the stalk; the picks embedded themselves deep in the flesh of the Nepent, and it cried out, breaking whatever attack it was going to do. Kirito took the opportunity to slice out with a «Horizontal» and kill the Little Nepent.

It died just like the rest, with one difference; the flower on top of its head fluttered down slowly before releasing a glowing ball and exploding into polygons. Kirito leaned down and picked up the ball, adding the item to his inventory. Sinon and Kirito shared a quick laugh at the fact that their fight was finally done.

Kirito turned to where Coper was fighting the Little Nepent with the fruit. "Sorry for the wait!" he called out. He drew his sword, intending to fight alongside the sudden and unexpected ally, but stopped after a few steps forward. Sinon frowned as she realized Coper was staring at the two of them.

_Why is he just staring at us? And why does it feel like there's pity in those eyes?_ Sinon wondered.

Then she knew. "Sorry, Kirito, Sinon," Coper said after he broke away from the Nepent for a second, before turning back and using a single-hit vertical attack, «Vertical».

"Wait, stop!" Sinon cried out.

But it was too late. The sword struck the fruit, cutting deep into it; there was a loud explosion and an obnoxious noise. Kirito stared at Coper as the noise slowly died away. The stench, though, didn't dissipate. "Wh...why..." Kirito said in a daze.

Coper refused to look at Sinon or Kirito. "...Sorry."

Sinon pressed her back to Kirito. "Enemies approaching from pretty much everywhere, Kirito," she reported. "At least thirty, probably more." When her partner didn't say anything, she looked at him. "Kirito!"

"He's trying to kill us." That was what Kirito finally said.

Sinon couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What?"

He turned to her, and there was pain in his black eyes. "He hit the fruit on purpose, and now he's using the Hiding skill to get a MPK on us."

Sinon closed her eyes briefly; she had hoped, for a split second, that Coper had just made a mistake. That, at the worst case scenario, he had panicked and tried to commit suicide. "But how? Won't he just..." She stopped when Kirito shook his head. "He doesn't know, does he," she whispered. _He doesn't know that Hiding doesn't work on things that don't use sight to hunt – like Little Nepents._ She watched as a cluster of red cursors converged on where she had last seen Coper standing and winced slightly.

Kirito calmly unsheathed his sword and turned to the rear, trusting Sinon to cover his flanks. The last bit of coherent and logical thinking she could afford to spare was a silent prayer that they made it out alive, and the rest was all instinct and reactions, dodging and parrying and striking and blocking. Her dagger was chipped and scratched from the hours spent fighting previously, so she did her best to be as efficient as possible. One attack, one kill when possible was the motto she had to live by, or she'd die.

In Sword Art Online, there was no such thing as an unavoidable attack; this was the only thing that saved Sinon from death, that her reflexes were fast enough to avoid any direct hits. It had surprised her slightly when a vine whipped her across the shoulder and her arm went numb from the pain; Sinon gasped with a hiss of pain. Pain in the beta had never actually hurt, even when dying from a sword to the chest. She could guess that the pain from taking a direct hit would stun her, longer than the game itself would freeze her from hitstun even, and she would be hit again and again until her hit points dropped to zero and she died. She fought on and on, refusing to die.

Behind her, Kirito howled and lunged forward, and she leapt backwards just as a Little Nepent slammed a vine down where she had been. A second later, and she would have taken damage. Immediately after, from a location just slightly ahead of her, Sinon heard a sharp breaking sound that was different from the sound of a monster's death. It was a player's death – Coper's death. Taking advantage of the opportunity and throwing two picks at the Nepent that had attacked her, Sinon killed it.

_That's the last of our Nepents,_ she thought tiredly while panting for breath. Kirito placed his hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see him standing there, as strong as ever. She rested her weight against his body briefly, but straightened up when a group of seven Nepents started moving towards them. _That's just...perfect,_ she thought sourly as she recognized another flower-bearing Nepent leading the pack. Kirito sprang forward, attacking two Nepents on the right that were charging up their acid spray and were helpless. That left the ones on the left for her.

The slaughter of the rest of the Nepents took less than a minute.

When it was finally over, Kazuto and Shino staggered over to where Coper had died to find his Small Sword and Buckler lying there, both worn out and scratched. After a second, Kazuto picked up the sword and thrust it deep into the roots of the biggest tree there. After that, he placed the flower – the one that dropped from the second flower-bearing Little Nepent - onto that root. "Here's yours, Coper," he murmured. And then, turning their backs on the temporary grave marker, Kazuto and Shino began walking on the path heading east, neither one saying a word.

Halfway to the town, Shino couldn't take the silence anymore; she needed to say something, anything, just to stop herself from replaying that moment over and over again, from hearing that shattering sound repeat in her ears. "Kazuto?" she asked quietly. "Can I ask you something?"

"You just did," Kazuto replied with a tired chuckle. "What?"

"Is there a reason you didn't tell me about getting into the SAO beta?"

Kazuto blinked, staring at Shino, and then laughed nervously. "Well..." he said. "I guess I didn't want to make you mad at me. I mean, it would be like saying I wanted to play games more than I wanted to hang out with my friend, and that's not cool, right?" Shino just shook her head with a sigh. "How come you didn't say anything?"

Shino frowned slightly. "I guess it's because I wanted to be strong," she said slowly. "And I didn't really want to tell you about it until I was stronger." _Kazuto probably liked Sinon better than he liked me, because Sinon didn't him to take care of her. _After that, the friends fell silent again, not saying anything else for the rest of the trip.

It was 9:00 at night when they returned to the house where they had received the quest; more players had arrived, likely other beta testers, but Shino and Kazuto didn't stop to talk to anyone, taking the alleyways and making their way to the inner parts of the village. The house they headed for was still lit with the orange glow of a lamp's light, so Kazuto knocked on the door and the two headed in. Silently, Kazuto dug the sphere out of his belt pouch and handed it over to the woman.

Shino marveled as she watched a change come over the woman; she stood up straighter, and lines seemed to fade from her face. The woman babbled words of gratitude as she put the ovule in the pot; after that, she opened a chest at the south of the room and quietly took out a long sword in a red scabbard. Shino privately thought it looked decrepit, but she couldn't deny that there was a sense of power held in the sword. The woman handed it over to Kazuto, who accepted it with a quiet word of gratitude.

Shino sighed as Kazuto sat down on a couch close by with a thud and took a seat next to him. They were both so exhausted, and as Shino relaxed a surge of fatigue washed over her and dragged her down into the darkness with it.

She woke up suddenly when her comfortable pillow shifted, and she sat up, blinking; she had fallen asleep on Kazuto's shoulder and he had just stood up. Blushing slightly, she sat up straight and played with her hair, using it to hide her face. _I hope he didn't mind..._ When he gave her a small smile, she was relieved. Confused as to where he was going, Shino watched as he crossed to an open door and passed through.

When she heard a sound almost like a sob, she crossed over to the door and looked in to see Kazuto standing there, trembling. Hesitantly, she entered and put her hand on his shoulder. "Kazuto? What's wrong?"

Kazuto swallowed before he started to speak in a hoarse tone of voice, like he was choking back sobs. "It's nothing, Shino, I'm fine. D-don't worry about it."

She frowned. "Kazuto, don't even try to lie to me." _He's on the verge of tears and tries to tell me he's fine? Not happening._

"Heh." Kazuto chuckled weakly before sighing. "I just miss my family, is all," he said. Then he gave her a quick hug. "But at least you're here with me, right, Shino?"

"Y-yeah."

* * *

><p><strong>All joking aside, the monologues are still important for Shino's character. She hasn't really opened up yet – despite Kazuto's continued presence – and the monologues are the best way I know how to show that; she's just too - not traumatized, but reticent and scared of opening up to people. Don't worry, they'll end, eventually. Although if 'too many of a temporary thing' is the worst problems I'm having, that's pretty damn good from my opinion.<strong>

**Anyway, the goal of this chapter was to kinda start showing how Shino and Kazuto are going to operate in the death game, as well as handling the first real combat they were in.**

**EDIT (2/3/15): Based on feedback, edited the chapter.**

**Many thanks to everyone that favorited, followed, or reviewed.**


	4. A Red Hood

**Chapter 4: A Red Hood**

* * *

><p><strong>December 2nd, 2022<strong>

_Hmph!_ Shino snorted as she stormed out of the town of Tolbana, passing through the stone archway in a huff. _Stupid Kazuto. I don't even care how concerned he is, I can take care of myself just fine, thank you very much._ Kazuto had made a simple mistake – understandable, really – just a few minutes earlier; he asked her to wait around while he got his equipment fixed and restocked on potions and the like. Shino, who had done her shopping and repairs earlier the evening before while Kazuto was napping, complained about that; she had mentioned that she could get started in grinding while Kazuto was getting the rest of his equipment ready, and that he was a level higher than her anyway, so she should get the majority of experience, and that she had fought alone in the Labyrinth in the beta, so it shouldn't make a difference.

Kazuto responded, appropriately enough, by looking worried and telling her that things were different now that it was a death game. "Please," he had said, "let me protect you." And that was the exact wrong thing to say to the belligerent Shino; the second Kazuto let her out of his sight, she stormed off, furious and determined to show Kazuto.

A large wasp-like monster burst out of some leafy bushes nearby, stinger gleaming a pale blue, and started to charge Shino. "And what do you want?!" she snarled at it; the Wild Vespid actually froze for a second, hovering in midair, before slowly starting to back away. Her hand darted to the inside pocket of her green vest before flashing out toward the monster, the throwing picks she had retrieved streaking toward the monster's weak points with unerring accuracy and a faint green trail. The two picks passed by the monster seemingly uselessly; a second later, the wings of the Wild Vespid separated from the monster's main body and the wasp fell to the ground with a crash, the wings fluttering down slowly. Shino grinned victoriously before moving over and ending the monster's life with her dagger; the blue polygons floated away and with them, a small bit of her anger.

She continued on her way, bolstered by her unequivocal success, and eventually stood in front of the entrance to the Labyrinth on the 1st Floor; Shino was surprised that it had been a month and still nobody had found the boss room. She knew that the maze had changed far too well; she and Kazuto had tried their luck at the Labyrinth, trying to fight through the twisting and turning passages of the maze, but they had been forced to fall back every time. If this had been the same as the beta, Shino and Kazuto would have thought nothing about just continuing the attack on the Labyrinth until they died, respawning, and then attacking the Labyrinth again – on the contrary, aside from the slight experience penalty, it was a perfectly valid strategy of learning how to fight the monsters found in the Labyrinth, since they were often stronger and more dangerous than the ones found on the floor.

However, this wasn't the beta; as it was, every player was taking it extremely slowly and cautiously, grinding as much as possible before attempting to challenge the Labyrinth. Shino and Kazuto were levels 11 and 12 respectively, and they were some of the highest level players on the floor.

The first monster Shino encountered inside the dungeon was a simple Kobold Fighter; it had a small hand axe and a simple leather tunic. Shino and Kazuto had fought plenty in the past, both in the beta and in the death game. Shino snorted at the thought that it might cause a problem for her. She drew two more throwing picks and launched them, using the same skill as against the Wild Vespid. The twin picks slammed into the creature's eyes, causing it to roar in pain and anguish; blinded, it started flailing with its hand axe, pawing at its eyes with its free hand. That let Shino draw her dagger and close in on the monster safely; with a single precise slash, she ended the Kobold Fighter's life.

With her free hand, she plucked the throwing picks out of the air just before they hit the ground; their durability was almost none, but it was better than having to use entirely new throwing picks against the next enemy. Slowly and surely, she fought her way through the Labyrinth, making sure to watch her back when she couldn't have it to a wall and conserve her supplies; wherever possible, she didn't use a throwing pick until she had a clean shot.

Eventually, though, Shino's anger diminished and she started to feel ashamed of how she reacted to Kazuto's concern. She suddenly realized that she might have made him lose his temper, and she bit her lip; she couldn't send or receive messages while in a dungeon or in the Labyrinth, so she had no way of letting Kazuto know she was safe until she found a safe zone. Fortunately for her peace of mind, she and Kazuto had spent a day or two mapping out the lower floors of the Labyrinth, so all she had to do was swipe open her menu and take a look at the map to find the closest safe zone. Fortunately, it was only a few corridors away, so Shino decided to just make her way there and send her friend a message to let him know she was okay.

Of course, heading to the safe zone did mean she would have to go through a group of Ruin Kobold Troopers; they were level 6, and far more dangerous than the Kobold Fighters and Wild Vespids she had been fighting. She patted her vest pockets, counting the amount of remaining throwing picks by touch and familiarity, and grimaced; she'd started to run low, a typical problem when she fought alone, and only had five or six more. Once she was more secure in her financial situation, she'd be able to keep herself stocked; what would be even better would be if she could get the sort of deal she had back in the beta, where a player blacksmith would make her bulk orders of throwing knives – they'd last longer than the throwing picks and do more damage. Of course, only players could make them, and unfortunately for Shino, no player blacksmiths were at a high enough level to make her the weapons.

She started making her way towards the safe zone regardless, figuring that once she was safe, she'd be able to message Kazuto and ask him to bring her extra throwing picks. She moved quietly and cautiously, making sure she didn't step on any rubble that might make a sound and sticking to shadows as much as possible to give herself as much of a chance at survival as possible. By avoiding most direct confrontations, she was able to make it to the corridor in front of the safe zone, specially lit flickering torches marking the boundary of safety. If she wasn't careful making her way there, she knew, she'd end up triggering four Ruin Kobold Troopers at once, and then she'd be in trouble; the Troopers were slightly faster than she was, so she wouldn't be able to outrun them and make it to the safe zone before they caught her. _Here we go..._ Shino rounded the corner and approached the spot where the first Ruin Kobold Trooper should jump out at her.

Shino straightened up from her slight crouch and frowned slightly when it turned out that the monster... was not there. Neither was the next one, or the one after that.

The final Ruin Kobold Trooper, however, was there. The one problem with that, however, was that someone else was already fighting it. The monster was swinging a wicked-looking hand axe, and the swordsman fighting it was just barely managing to dodge each of the swings. After the monster attacked three times, however, it lost its balance; the swordsman took advantage of the opening and used a Sword Skill. It was the first skill someone using a rapier could learn – the single thrust «Linear» - and the streak left in the air was a pale green light.

Sinon's eyes widened, because that was the only thing she could see; even though she had seen the «Linear» skill multiple times during the beta, she had never seen one executed so quickly or perfectly.

The swordsman continued the same pattern two more times; he dodged three times, just barely getting out of the way every time, and then thrust forward with an insanely fast rapier thrust. After the third blow, the Ruin Kobold Trooper let out a shrieking cry before bursting into a scattering of blue polygons that quickly disappeared.

The swordsman had managed to destroy the monster without taking a single point of damage; no easy task. However, the swordsman staggered backwards, clearly exhausted, and collapsed against the cracked wall. He slowly slid down until he was slumped on the ground, sitting - he didn't even seem to notice Sinon standing there, only a few steps away.

Normally, Sinon would have averted her eyes, passed the lone swordsman, and went on her way. She and Kazuto had chosen to become solo players, only looking out for themselves and avoiding going near other people. The only exception was when someone was in danger of losing their life in battle; she and Kazuto had interfered occasionally, doing their best to save the person's life before leaving as soon as they could. The two of them had chosen to live alone, without helping others, so everything they did was to keep themselves isolated. And this rapier user didn't seem to be in any kind of danger.

Despite everything, though, Sinon couldn't stop herself from approaching the slumped figure, studying him as she approached. The overall form was slender, equipped with a dark red leather tunic and a copper breastplate. Sinon couldn't see the swordsman's face because of a hooded cape he had equipped; other than that, the equipment matched what a fencer should be using, light and easy to move in.

At the sounds of Sinon's footsteps, the swordsman trembled slightly, but that was all; even though the swordsman's head was buried behind their raised knees, giving off a definite 'Leave me alone' feeling, Shino stopped a few steps away. "That was recklessly inefficient," she said. "That amount of overkill is unnecessary." The thin shoulders moved again; the man's hood jerked and looked up, showing nothing but two brown eyes. For a few seconds, the rapier user watched Sinon with that same intense stare that he had used during the fight, before tilting his head slightly to the right in an 'I don't get it' gesture.

_It's like I thought,_ Sinon nodded slightly. _They aren't a beta tester after all._ That thought had come to her when she watched the swordsman fight; the «Linear» skill was perfectly executed, but way the man fought was far too risky. Sidestepping did allow for faster counter-attacking than parrying or blocking and didn't decrease durability; in exchange, however, getting hit could cause a stun condition and that would be fatal when fighting alone. "Overkill means that the damage inflicted was far greater than the remaining health of the monster. A regular attack would have been enough to kill the Ruin Kobold Trooper."

For a long time, the rapier user just sat there and stared. Eventually, however, a small voice finally spoke. "...Is there a problem with overkill?"

The voice was most definitely feminine, despite the exhaustion roughening the tone, and Sinon's eyes widened, her words momentarily lost. Still, the girl asked a question and so Sinon needed to answer her. Gathering her thoughts, she replied, "...Technically, no. Overkill doesn't cause any penalties by the game. However, Sword Skills require concentration to be used, so using them repeatedly can be mentally tiring." Sinon was talking more than she usually did, even when she was alone with Kazuto; there was just something about this girl that made her curious. "There's also the return trip to think about."

"...Return trip?" the voice asked again. The voice was faint and thin; despite that, Sinon had a feeling the girl underneath the hood was probably very pretty.

"Exiting the dungeon from this point takes about an hour, and then the closest town is thirty minutes away. Exhaustion means mistakes, and for solo players mistakes mean death."

For a long time the rapier user just sat there, silent, and Sinon wondered if she had inadvertently given offense by lecturing her on how to play the game. "...Then, there's not a problem. I'm not returning," the girl said finally.

_What?_ "What?" Sinon repeated out loud. "You're not returning to the town? But... your supplies and repairing your equipment... and sleeping..."

The hood shifted slightly. "I don't need medicine when I'm not losing health, and I have five of the same sword. As for when I need to sleep, that's what the safe area is for." Sinon's eyes widened; she and Kazuto had tried that, once, during a dungeon dive where neither of them felt up to fighting their way out. It didn't end well; the girl woke up screaming from a nightmare and felt more drained than when she went to sleep.

"...How long have you been here?" Sinon asked carefully.

The girl sucked in a deep breath before replying. "Three, maybe four days?" There was a short sigh. "Is that everything? The monsters a little further away will be respawning soon, so I need to be going." The girl pushed herself to her feet, shoulders slumping with exhaustion, and started walking away very slowly. Sinon stared at the girl's back, noticing how the cloth cape was in shreds from going so long without being repaired.

"You're going to die if you continue like this," Sinon replied without thinking things through. She didn't know why she said anything, but she said those words anyway.

Stopping suddenly, the rapier user leaned against the right wall and slowly turned around, piercing Sinon with her gaze. "...Everyone is going to die regardless," the girl rasped in her hoarse, cracked voice. "It's been only a month and two thousand people have died and we haven't even cleared the first floor. This game isn't beatable. Where and... when you die... is the only difference..." The girl's voice trailed off; as Sinon stepped forward, the rapier user stiffened and then slowly sank to the floor.

Shino realized in amazement that the girl had fainted. She moved over to where the girl was slumped and crouched down; she checked for a pulse to find that she was still breathing, albeit slowly. Shino gingerly tried to pick up the girl in red, but her strength stat was not high enough to carry the girl; slumping against the same wall that the girl had been resting against earlier, Shino brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them, thinking hard about her situation.

Because the two were still in a party, Shino knew that Kazuto would be able to find her when they got close enough. She glanced at the girl lying at her feet before sighing and burying her face in her knees, wishing for Kazuto. Ever since the game started, the two friends had been almost inseparable. Part of it was for safety – fighting in a pair was much easier than fighting alone – and part of it was something else entirely. For the life of her, however, Shino couldn't figure out what that something else was.

"Shino!" Oh, she could hear Kazuto's voice now. "Shino!" Shino looked up to see Kazuto rushing toward her, sword sheathed on his back. "Are you okay?" He stopped and crouched next to her, gently touching her shoulder.

Shino looked down, trying to hide her face. "Kazuto, are you mad at me?" Her voice was small and quiet.

"What?" Kazuto's voice was shocked. "No! I'm not mad at all." He wrapped her in a tight hug, feeling her tense muscles slowly start to unknot. "I was just worried about you." Shino buried her face in his chest, seeking the comfort she was so used to. "When I realized you were in the dungeon, I... I just..."

Sniffling, Shino said, "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to make you worry..." She cautiously returned the hug. "I wasn't thinking straight. I'm sorry."

Kazuto straightened up with a relieved sigh. "I'm just glad you're safe, Shino." He patted her on the shoulder one last time, and then sat down next to her. "So who's this?"

Shino blinked at the abrupt shift in the conversation, and then looked at the girl lying slumped on the floor. "Oh, her. She passed out, and I couldn't carry her to the safe zone."

"So you just left her there, on the floor?" Kazuto asked incredulously.

Shino shrugged. "She's unconscious, she doesn't care," she replied blandly.

"Your priorities scare me sometimes."

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up and help me get her out of here." Kazuto just chuckled and scooped the unconscious girl into his arms, carrying her carefully. "How many monsters were there on the way?"

Kazuto glanced at her. "The question you should be asking is 'How many monsters are left alive?', and the answer to that question is 'Pretty much none'." Shino felt a momentary pang of regret as she realized that he probably desperately fought his way through the mobs that had respawned, just to find her and make sure she was safe. Kazuto grinned at her, then, and she felt slightly better. "I needed some exercise, so I took a few detours." Shino smiled slightly, reassured.

Seven hours later, the two friends and one unconscious solo player were resting outside of the Labyrinth under the shade of a large tree. The girl in red was sitting propped up against the trunk of the tree; Kazuto was sitting on the other side of the tree because of Shino's insistence. She had told him that when the girl woke up, she'd probably feel more secure if she only saw someone she knew. "Because I was the one that talked to her," she had said, "I should be the one she sees when she wakes up." Kazuto didn't argue; Shino could tell he didn't understand, so she told him about the perfect Sword Skill the girl had been using. "It was like watching a shooting star," she told him. At the moment, though, Shino was sitting at the edge of the hill, sorting through her menu and organizing the drops she had managed to collect while fighting in the Labyrinth; she had spent some time talking with Kazuto, but after a while the messiness of her inventory started getting to her.

She was almost done when she heard someone stirring behind her. Sinon turned around to see the girl awake and staring at her. "Unnecessary... effort," the girl croaked out. Sinon frowned slightly, her eyes lowering. "Unnecessary..."

Instinctively, Sinon knew that sympathy or pity wouldn't work, that showing those kinds of emotions would only make the situation worse. She had enough experience with wanting to just disappear and let the world go on without her that the only thing that would make things better would be to pretend like she was acting out of pure self-interest. "I didn't save you," Sinon said out loud.

"...Then why didn't you leave me?"

Sinon coughed slightly. "What I saved was your map data. If you've really been in the Labyrinth for four days, you've probably found some areas I don't have." She shrugged. "It would have been a waste to lose that with you as well."

"...Then, take it," the girl muttered. She swiped open her menu and copied her map data to an item that she then took out of her inventory and threw to Sinon's feet. "That's everything, right? Then, I'll be going." Forcing herself to her feet, the girl wobbled slightly as she took a step towards the entrance of the Labyrinth again.

Sinon sighed. "Hey, wait." The girl didn't stop. "You want to clear the game, right? Not just die in a dungeon?" Those words froze the girl as effortlessly as if she had been paralyzed. "There's a meeting in a few hours in Tolbana. I think you should go."

"...meeting?" the girl murmured, back still to Sinon.

Sinon nodded. "The meeting for the 1st Floor Boss fight." The girl hesitated, but eventually walked off without another word.

As Kazuto walked out from behind the tree, Shino sighed. "Well, I tried," she said.

"You did your best," he reassured her. "If she doesn't show up, it's not your fault."

Shino rolled her eyes at Kazuto. "I know that, thank you very much." She fell silent before looking at Kazuto again. "Hey, Kazuto?"

The boy in question was busy staring off into the blue sky. "Mm?"

"I really didn't mean for you to worry," Shino said quietly. "I guess I just got angry and stormed off without thinking."

Kazuto chuckled before giving her a one-armed hug. "I wasn't really worried, Shino," he said. "I knew you could handle yourself."

Shino glared at Kazuto playfully and elbowed him in the ribs, managing to get a grunt out of him. "Liar," she chided gently. "We both know you're not good at lying to me, so don't even try it." Rubbing the spot where she had nudged him, Kazuto gave her a quick grin. "C'mon, let's get some grinding done. I've still got a few throwing picks left, and we've got some time before the meeting anyway."

* * *

><p>An hour or two later, Shino and Kazuto walked into the town of Tolbana, their overall goal of grinding not exactly completed. Shino grimaced slightly, but made sure to do it away from Kazuto's line of sight. She still felt slightly guilty about making him worry, even though he had brushed it off. "Kazuto, how much time do we have before the meeting starts?"<p>

"Thirty minutes," Kazuto replied without missing a beat. Shino had a feeling he had just been wondering that as well, given his prompt reply.

"I'm going to restock on throwing picks," she told him. "I'll meet you at the amphitheater." Kazuto grunted agreement, and Shino made her way into the main town, taking the most direct route to the weapons shop. That did mean that she had to pass through crowds to get there, but she knew how to handle them. Sinon made her way through the thin crowds, occasionally nudging someone out of the way if they were focused on something other than walking.

Once she was safely inside the weapon shop and out of the cold air – she sneezed at the swift temperature shift, rubbing her arms – Shino blinked and made her way up to the counter. When she arrived there, the NPC behind the counter glanced at her; Shino immediately accessed the shop's menu and bought enough throwing picks to restock. "This is everything," she told the NPC when she was finished.

"1500 Col," he told her. Shino winced and tried weakly to bargain the price tag lower, but the NPC shook his head. "1500 Col," he repeated impatiently. "And don't even think about trying to bargain with me again." Shino sighed in defeat and paid up, grumbling under her breath the entire time. _Maybe there's something to the __«__Bargaining__»__ skill after all._

Exiting the shop, Shino immediately started off for the town center; she didn't have as far to go, but the meeting started very soon. She made it with plenty of time to spare, though, and took a seat near the top next to Kazuto. He seemed lost in thought to the point where she wasn't sure if he realized she was there, so Shino nudged him in the shoulder with her index finger. "Hey."

Kazuto blinked and came back to the real world. "Hey, Sinon."

Sinon crossed her arms. "What could be so much more important than me?" she asked.

He smiled slightly. "I got a visit from our friendly neighborhood rodent again," he said.

"What'd she want?"

"You know that guy that wanted my sword? He's upped the price to almost thirty thousand Col now." Sinon winced slightly, and he nodded. "I'm starting to wonder about him."

Sinon was going to say something else, but her attention was caught by someone striding onto the stage with bright blue hair. She absently tugged at her own hair before dropping her hands when she realized what she was doing.

The man clapped his hands to gather attention and began speaking. "Okay, people. Now that everyone's here, let's get this meeting started. My name is Diavel and my class specialization is knight!" Despite herself, Sinon couldn't stop a giggle at the absurd remark, and she heard Kazuto snicker; other players were chuckling and teasing Diavel as well. The icebreaker had been effective. "You guys wanna hear this or not?"

The jeering died down slowly, and he suddenly shifted gears to serious. "Right, here's the deal. My party found the boss room earlier today." Sinon's eyes widened and incredulous gasps filled the air, stopping when Diavel raised his hand. "First we need to defeat the boss and unlock the 2nd Floor. As the most capable players here, it's our job – no, our duty – to do that! Do you agree, or not?" Murmurs filled the air while the players debated the news; Kirito and Sinon shared a glance and a small smile. _Finally, progress,_ Sinon wanted to cheer. Someone else in the crowd started clapping, and the applause quickly spread.

"Okay!" said Diavel. "Glad to hear you're all with me on this. Now, to defeat the boss, we're going to team up into parties of six." When they heard that, Kirito and Sinon choked on nothing. As solo players, they were strong enough by themselves, but if the parties needed to be teams of six, the pair was in trouble – they weren't exactly surrounded by friends_._ "Normal parties aren't strong enough to fight against the floor boss, so we need a raid group." Sinon and Kirito looked around wildly; the other players were already forming up their parties of six, so the two were running the danger of being left out.

Sinon's eyes finally fell on a familiar figure – a person sitting alone and in a dark red hood – and she tapped Kirito's shoulder, pointing; he followed her line of sight and nodded when he realized who she was pointing out. The two beta testers made their way over to the girl and sat down. "Hello again," Sinon said. "I didn't think you'd show up."

"You invited me," the girl said.

"Did you get left out, too?" Kirito asked.

"Not even," the girl said in a chill voice. _Well, she sounds better, at least. She must have grabbed something to eat._ "It just seems like everyone seems like they're already friends."

Sinon waved a hand at Kirito. "Well, we still need a party. Would you like to join us?"

"You heard what the guy said," Kirito continued. "We can't beat the boss on our own. And it would only be for this fight." The girl sat there in silence for a while, what Sinon could see of her face impassive, before nodding slowly. Kirito opened his menu and sent her the party request, which she accepted. Sinon glanced at the name under her health bar; the girl's name was Asuna.

"All right!" Diavel said. "Looks like everyone's teamed up. Now, let's -"

"Hold up a sec!" someone shouted from the top of the amphitheater, interrupting Diavel. The guy ran and jumped over multiple rows, landing in front of the assembled players.

Sinon giggled, and Kirito looked over. "He looks like a cactus," she whispered to him.

He grinned slightly and turned back to watch the man.

The man thumped his chest and shouted, "My name's Kibaou, you got that? Before we take on the boss, I want to get something off my chest. We all know about the two thousand people who died so far, yeah? Well, some of you need to apologize to them right now!" He pointed a finger at the audience. Sinon frowned, and when Kirito suddenly sucked in air and grew stiff, she knew he had reached the same conclusion she had.

Diavel spoke up for the first time since Kibaou interrupted him. "Kibaou, I think I know who you're referring to. You mean the ones who are ex-beta testers, right?"

Kibaou stepped toward him. "Of course I mean them! The day this stupid-ass game started, the beta guys just up and vanished, right? They ditched all us beginners. They snagged all the good hunting spots, and they grabbed all the easy quests too. They were the only ones getting stronger in here." Sinon fidgeted slightly, slightly uncomfortable at how close to home his words were landing – she and Kirito did get the good hunting spots and quests because of their foreknowledge. "This whole time, they've ignored us like we're nothing." Kibaou snarled, getting worked up again. He clenched a fist and shook it at the audience. "Hell, I bet there's some of them here! Come on out, beta testers!" He started getting more and more animated as his voice grew louder and louder. "We should make 'em apologize to us. And we should make 'em give up their money AND the items they got. They can't expect the party to trust 'em when they don't trust us. Why should we?"

Sinon had finally had enough of the hate and bullying; first from the girls, and now from this ridiculous man shouting out. Something inside her snapped suddenly; standing up, she put her hands on her hips and glared down at the man looking around angrily. "Can I speak?" Kibaou glared at her, and she continued. "You blame beta testers for the deaths, correct?" She started making her way down to the stage.

"Yeah, that's right," Kibaou grumbled.

Sinon opened her menu and pulled out a small brown book. "Do you recognize this?" Kibaou grunted and glared at her. "I'll assume that's yes. Beta testers handed these out." She glared right back at Kibaou. "Everyone had this information and they still died." She tossed the book at Kibaou. "Read the author of the section on Sword Skills." She still had the first edition, the edition with credited names, though she knew recent editions had those credits removed.

"Kirito," Kibaou replied sullenly.

"And the section on Blade Throwing?"

"Sinon," he said.

She sketched out a mocking bow. "Sinon, at your service." She pointed up to where Kirito was sitting, head in his hands. "That's Kirito." Awed murmurs spread throughout the assembled players. "So sit down and shut up. I want to hear the rest of the information." Leaving a stunned Kibaou behind, she made her way back to the top of the amphitheater, doing her best to ignore the stunned looks the other players were giving. One large man with dark skin and a very large axe was giving her a particularly studying look, but she did her best to keep up the appearance of strength.

When she sat down next to Kirito, it was as if the strength left her; she wasn't sure she'd be able to stand up again if her life depended on it. She completely ignored the rest of the meeting, unable to focus. _Kazuto'll fill me in tonight,_ she thought.

Eventually, the meeting was adjourned and Kirito tapped her on the shoulder; she blinked, coming out of her own little world and rejoining everyone else. She looked at the stage, where Kibaou was apologizing to Diavel for interrupting, before she and Kirito stood up and made their way out of the amphitheater.

_Hopefully, this boss fight ends well._

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><p><strong>Changing it up a little; Shino stood up to the bully, for once, although whether that was beneficial in the long run will remain to be seen.<strong>

**Also, this marks our first real deviation from canon! Yay! …other than Shino being in SAO, of course.**

**Response to reviews that brought up good points: Sinon is using throwing picks right now (and right now only) for the reason I described above - the players can't make throwing knives yet.**

**Many thanks to everyone that favorited, followed, or reviewed.**

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><p><strong>Hey, important information related to this story on my profile, so please go look.<strong>


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